Five large blasts rocked Baghdad killing nearly 30 people, two days after deadly bombings in the capital sparked concern insurgents are making a comeback due to a political impasse.
The explosions took place in mostly Shiite neighbourhoods in the capital, including a suicide bombing at a popular restaurant in Allawi, near Haifa street in central Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
A defence ministry official initially said at least 10 people were killed and 35 others wounded in the blasts.
The death toll was then revised up to 28, with 75 people injured.
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Plume of smoke visible
Ambulance sirens were heard across the city as emergency service workers rushed to the scene, and a large plume of smoke rose from near the bombed restaurant.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said three people managed to climb out of the rubble of the restaurant explosion, despite the old building housing it completely destroyed. Others were thought to be trapped inside.
Dozens of passersby gathered at the site of a blast, close to a secondary school, to sort through the rubble in a bid to rescue survivors.
"I was picking up bricks and sand to find victims, and just when I succeeded to remove the rubble, the man I saw died," said 25-year-old Mustafa.
Screams of those injured
"His wife came to me to see if I had seen him, and I told her he died."
A 30-something woman was at the scene screaming, "Mother, mother, answer me!" in the hopes that her mother, trapped underneath the collapsed building, would respond.
Along with the Allawi blast, the interior ministry official said a building collapsed in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala, while two were destroyed in Chikouk, a camp for internally-displaced persons.
A fifth blast took place in Shurta Rabiyah, west Baghdad.
The latest explosions come after three suicide vehicle bombings minutes apart targeting regional and European embassies killed 30 people and wounded more than 200 on Sunday.
Al-Qaeda blamed
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who said Sunday's attacks bore the signature of al-Qaeda, attributed those bombings to groups who wanted to derail the formation of a new government.
"This is a political attack, aimed at derailing the process, sending a message that the terrorists are still in business," Zebari told AFP on Sunday.
"Because of the vacuum of forming the next government, they wanted to send that message."
Sitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance finished with 89 seats in the 325-member parliament after March 7 parliamentary elections, two fewer than ex-premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc.
Allawi, however, has accused Iran of seeking to prevent him becoming prime minister again by inviting all major parties except his secular bloc to Tehran.
Destabilising forces
Security officials had warned that protracted coalition building could give insurgents an opportunity to further destabilise the country.
The latest violence follows a Saturday attack south of Baghdad blamed on Al-Qaeda in which security officials said 25 villagers linked to an anti-Qaeda militia were rounded up and shot execution-style by men in army uniforms.
Although the frequency of attacks by insurgents has dropped significantly since peaking in 2006 and 2007, figures released on Thursday showed 367 Iraqis were killed in violence last month -- the highest number this year.
