Wave of bombings across Iraqi capital kills 23

A series of blasts on Thursday morning in Baghdad killed at least 23 people and injured dozens more in a coordinated attack designed to wreak havoc across the Iraqi capital.

The blasts were the worst violence to hit the country since a political crisis between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite factions erupted this weekend. The political spat, which pits Iraq's Shiite prime minister against the highest-ranking Sunni political leader, has raised fears that Iraq's sectarian wounds will be reopened.

Iraqi officials said at least nine blasts went off early Thursday morning in neighborhoods around the city.

The worst attack was in the al Amal neighborhood where seven people were killed in a blast that appeared to target rescuers and officials who came to the scene after a previous explosion. At least four people were killed in one western Baghdad neighborhood when two roadside bombs exploded.

All the information came from police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In the southwestern neighborhood of Karrada, where one of the victims was killed, sirens could be heard as ambulances rushed to the scene and a large plume of smoke rose over the explosion site.

While Baghdad and Iraq have gotten much safer over the years, explosions like Thursday's are still commonplace. They come at a precarious time in Iraq's political history.

The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused the Sunni Vice President Tariq al Hashemi of running a hit squad that targeted government officials. Al Maliki is also pushing for a vote of no confidence against another Sunni politician, the deputy prime minister Saleh al Mutlaq.

Many Sunnis fear that this is part of a wider campaign to go after Sunni political figures in general and shore up Shiite control across the country at a critical time when all American troops have left Iraq.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the morning's violence. But the coordinated nature of the assault and the fact that the attacks took place in numerous neighborhoods suggested a planning capability only available to al Qaida in Iraq.

The Sunni militant organization is severely debilitated from its previous strength in the early years of the war, but is still able to launch coordinated and deadly assaults from time to time.

US military officials have said they're worried about a resurgence of al Qaida after the American military leaves the country. If that happens, it could lead Shiite militants to fight back and attack Sunni targets, thus sending Iraq back to the sectarian violence it experienced just a few years ago.