Six car bombs have ripped through Baghdad, killing five people, hours after American law-makers criticised the slow pace of political reconciliation which they blamed for high levels of violence.
The blasts on Thursday afternoon, which mostly targeted Shi'ite-majority neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital, come amid the country's worst protracted period of unrest since 2008, as security forces grapple with near-daily attacks and battles with anti-government fighters in Anbar province.
Diplomats and analysts have called for the Shi'ite-led government to do more to reach out to disaffected Sunnis, but with parliamentary elections looming in April, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has taken a hard line.
The bloodshed has continued unabated, with half a dozen car bombs going off across Baghdad, killing at least five people and leaving 38 others wounded, according to security and medical officials.
Four of the neighbourhoods hit are populated mostly by Iraq's Shi'ite majority, while the other two were in the commercial Karrada district of central Baghdad. Three of the blasts targeted market areas.
The blasts come a day after attacks in the Iraqi capital left 33 people dead, including 25 killed in bombings near the Green Zone, home to parliament, the prime minister's office and the US and British embassies.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, but Sunni militant groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a powerful jihadist outfit, have in the past taken credit for bombing campaigns in the capital targeting Shi'ites.
US House Committee on Foreign Affairs chairman Ed Royce said on Wednesday that Maliki's failure to do more to address Sunni grievances had allowed ISIL to exploit the minority community's "alienation" to sharply step up its attacks.
"As head of state, while he may not be up to it, Maliki must take steps to lead Iraq to a post-sectarian era," Royce said.
"Al-Qaeda has become very skilled at exploiting this sectarian rift, and Maliki's power grab has given them much ammunition."
