Iraq bombings kill more than 80 Baghdad: In the span of roughly an hour, as the streets were choked with morning commuters and shoppers, more than a dozen explosions struck Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 65 people and wounding far more, officials said. It was the latest in a series of terrorist attacks that have engulfed Iraq. The explosions, which struck mainly Shiite neighborhoods, follow a series of beheadings in recent days, some of which were claimed by al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate. They have raised new fears that Iraq, whose population is mainly Shiite, is returning to the bloody sectarian violence that gripped the country in 2006 and 2007, nearly tearing it apart. In a scene reminiscent of those times, just as Baghdad was gripped by panic, gunmen stormed the home of a Shiite family in the Sunni-dominated town of Latifiya, south of Baghdad, and killed seven people, including four children, with knives. Later, some local media reports said the bodies of the family members had been decapitated. In the evening, two more car bombs struck in Amel, a Shiite-dominated district, killing six people. Iraqi civilians check the site of an explosion in Baghdad after coordinated car bombs ripped through mostly Shiite neighbourhoods during rush hour. Meanwhile, as the explosions began ringing out across Baghdad in the morning, familiar scenes of panic and fear played out on the streets. In one neighbourhood, a suspicious car was spotted near a parking lot. "Car bomb!" yelled a traffic policeman. People inspect the site of a car bomb attack at a vegetable market in the Jamilah neighbourhood of Baghdad. Pedestrians began running, not knowing which direction to go. Cars turned around, clogging the streets, as drivers rolled down their windows to prevent shattered glass from entering their vehicles. After about four minutes the suspicious car exploded, sending a plume of black smoke skyward, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen others, according to a security official. The relentless series of coordinated attacks, which involved car bombs and suicide attackers, hit public markets, restaurants and a bus stop. In Baghdad alone, at least 65 people were killed, officials said. Nationwide, the carnage left more than 80 people dead from attacks on soldiers and civilians in Babel, Kirkuk and Mosul. People gather at the site of a car bomb attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. For days before the strikes, the local news media published warnings by the government that a new wave of attacks was imminent, and security forces set up new checkpoints and other security measures. But in the end, the security forces were unable to stop the attacks, further undermining the confidence Iraqis have in the government to protect them. In recent weeks, the security forces have undertaken a series of operations, mostly in Sunni neighbourhoods, as part of a campaign the government is calling "the revenge of the martyrs." The Shiite-dominated government claims to have arrested hundreds of Sunni extremists and discovered a factory that makes car bombs, but the operations have also further antagonised the Sunni community, with limited effect on reining in the violence. The government has also engaged in a public relations campaign that appears to be aiming to minimise the level of violence by releasing statements in the wake of the attacks that state lower death tolls than those reported by other security officials. After the latest round of bombings, the Ministry of Interior published a statement online reporting that only 18 people had been killed. However, a government official, who for years has provided casualty figures to the media, had already said that more than 60 people had been killed. The surge in violence in Iraq is at least partly the result of spillover from the civil war in Syria, where al-Qaeda-linked groups fostered by Iraqi extremists are some of the fiercest fighting units. The successes the group has had in Syria have emboldened Sunni extremists in Iraq, as well, to step up their fight here. At the same time, the war has exacerbated sectarian tensions within Iraq as the country's Shiites have largely sided with the Syrian government, while Sunnis are backing the Syrian rebels. On Wednesday, as it appeared that the United States was moving closer to missile strikes on Syria, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki denounced the possibility of US airstrikes and said he was putting Iraq's security forces on "the highest state of alert." Meanwhile, the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands a vast following among the poor and pious Shiite masses, called for street protests in the event of US military action. Opponents of the government, who since the Arab uprisings unfolded in 2011 have sought to organise a protest movement in Iraq, had already been planning demonstrations for Saturday. However, protest organisers have said the government refused to grant them a licence, as is required by Iraqi law, and the government has directed citizens not to gather in protest because "there are those who are keen to target citizens in bloody criminal attacks." In July, more than 1000 Iraqis were killed in violent attacks, according to the United Nations, the highest death toll in more than five years.