Series of attacks in Iraq kills at least 31, more than 200 wounded

          
Insurgents launched what appeared to be a highly coordinated string of attacks in several parts of Iraq on Monday morning, killing at least 31 and wounding more than 200, according to officials.          

The attacks, many involving car bombs, erupted less than a week before Iraqis in much of the country are scheduled to vote in the country's first elections since the 2011 US troop withdrawal, testing security forces' ability to prevent bloodshed.          

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but coordinated attacks are a favorite tactic of al-Qaeda's Iraq branch.         

Iraqi officials believe the insurgent group is growing stronger and increasingly coordinating with allies fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad across the border.         

They say rising lawlessness on the Syria-Iraq frontier and cross-border cooperation with a Syrian group, the Nusra Front, has improved the militants' supply of weapons and foreign fighters.         

Nearly all of the deadly attacks reported by police officials were bombings.            

They were unusually broad in scope, striking not just Baghdad, but also the western Sunni city of Fallujah, the ethnically contested oil-rich city of Kirkuk and towns in the predominantly Shiite south.         

Other attacks struck north of the capital, including the former al-Qaeda stronghold of Baqouba and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.           

Windows rattled from the force of a blast in central Baghdad when a bomb struck the central commercial district of Karrada.         

In another of the Baghdad explosions, a parked car bomb exploded in a bus station in the eastern suburbs of Kamaliyah, killing four.           

"So many explosions took place. Two car bombs exploded in the area of Riaasa and two others in Kamaliyah. What have those innocent people done to deserve this?" said one eyewitness in Baghdad's Kamaliyah neighborhood.           

A total of 10 were killed in the Baghdad attacks.          

Hospital officials confirmed the casualty tolls.         

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release details to reporters.          

Although violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak in 2006 and 2007, bombings and other attacks remain common.        

The blasts struck a day after a series of attacks left 10 people dead, including a Sunni candidate running in the upcoming provincial elections.        

The most serious attack on Sunday happened when a booby-trapped body exploded among a group of police officers, who were trying to inspect the body that was left in the street.          

Saturday's election for local-level officials will be a test of the strength of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political bloc as well as the ability of security forces to keep the country safe.


AP