Rapid-Fire Attacks Across Iraq Kill 50 People A rapid series of attacks spread over a wide swath of Iraqi territory killed at least 50 people on Thursday, targeting mostly security forces in what appeared to be a vicious strike by al-Qaida militants bent on destabilizing the country. The apparently coordinated bombings and shootings unfolded over four hours in the capital Baghdad - where most of the deaths occurred - and 11 other cities. They struck government offices, restaurants and one in the town of Musayyib hit close to a primary school. At least 225 people were wounded. "What is happening today are not simple security violations - it is a huge security failure and disaster," said Ahmed al-Tamimi, who was working at an Education Ministry office a block away from a restaurant that was bombed in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad. He described a hellish scene of human flesh and pools of blood at the restaurant. "We want to know: What were the thousands of policemen and soldiers in Baghdad doing today while the terrorists were roaming the city and spreading violence?" al-Tamimi said. It was the latest of a series of large-scale attacks that insurgents have launched every few weeks since the last U.S. troops left Iraq in mid-December at the end of a nearly nine-year war. Marwan Ibrahim/AFP/Getty Images The ongoing nature of the violence and the fact that insurgents are able to operate over a wide swath of Iraq to carry out a variety of attacks shows the country is still deeply unstable, despite government assurances it could protect itself when American troops left in December. The violence points to a dangerous gap in the abilities of the Iraqi security forces that had particularly worried the departing U.S. military: their ability to gather intelligence on insurgent groups and stop them before they launch such deadly attacks. Gathering information on militants and their networks was a key area in which the U.S. military helped their Iraqi counterparts. Shortly after the withdrawal, a major political crisis with sectarian undertones erupted as well when Shiite-dominated authorities sought to arrest Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on allegations he commandeered death squads targeting security forces and government officials. While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, targeting security officials is a hallmark of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Such attacks achieve two goals: undermining the public's confidence in the ability of their policemen and soldiers to protect everyday citizens and discourage people from joining or helping the security forces. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a similar strike on Jan. 5 that killed 78 people and mostly targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, in what was the worst day of violence to shake Iraq in months. Two government spokesmen declined immediate comment. A senior Iraqi defense intelligence official said Thursday's attacks appeared to have been planned for at least one month. He predicted they aimed to frighten diplomats from attending the Arab League's annual summit that is scheduled to be held in Baghdad in late March. Similar fears were part of the reason the League meeting was canceled in Baghdad last year. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.