Deadly wave of car bombs strikes Iraq

A wave of car bombs has struck mainly Shia areas in and around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 24 people, security and medical officials have said. At least ten car bombs, which hit six different areas of Baghdad on Monday morning, also wounded about 161 people. A car bomb targeted a market in the centre of southern city of Basra killing at least three people, security sources told Al Jazeera. At least five people were killed and 38 injured when two car bombs blew up near a taxi terminal in the city of Kut, 150km southeast of the capital, police said. Four more died in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30km south of Baghdad. The rest of the bombings took place across Baghdad, in Sadr city, Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya and Risala neighborhoods, Reuters news agency reported. A relentless campaign of bombings and shootings has killed nearly 4,000 people in Iraq since the start of the year, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count. The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in a country where Kurds, Shia and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power. In July alone, more than 810 people have lost their lives in attacks.