said the group is increasingly showing "huge confidence and military capability."

"Both the increasing frequency, and statistically, the increasing deadliness of (their) coordinated nationwide bombings in Iraq underlines the extent of their operational reach and the huge depth of their resources," he said.

In one particularly brutal attack, a Shiite family was shot dead at home in the largely Sunni town of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Four children, ages eight to 16, were killed along with their parents and an uncle, police said. Authorities said they had previously fled the town after being threatened and had returned only three weeks ago.

Many of the day's blasts targeted morning shoppers. One parked car bomb in a commercial area in Baghdad's northern Shaab killed nine. Parked car bombs that wentoff in outdoor markets killed 19 in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, the northeastern neighborhood of Shula, the southeastern Jisr Diyala district and the eastern New Baghdad area.

Blasts also hit the neighborhoods of Bayaa, Jamila, Hurriyah and Saydiyah, killing 12. Yet another car bomb exploded in the evening in Baghdad's southwestern Amil neighborhood, killing four.

Outside the capital, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a restaurant in Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing five. And in Madain, about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck a passing military patrol, killing four soldiers.

While Shiite areas bore the brunt of the attacks, Sunni areas were targeted late in the day.

A parked car bomb exploded late Wednesday as worshippers left a mosque in Baghdad's western Yarmouk