BAGHDAD - Bombings struck several areas in Baghdad and to the north Thursday, killing at least 30 people in the first major attacks in Iraq in nearly a month. The violence stoked fears that insurgents were trying to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government amid rising sectarian tensions. In all, officials said extremists launched 12 attacks in the Iraqi capital and in the cities of Kirkuk, Samarra, Baqouba, Dibis and Taji. Mortars were fired into the northern cities of Beiji and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, but no injuries were reported there. Nearly 100 people were wounded in the rapid-fire explosions that unfolded over an hour and 15 minutes. Half of the bombs struck at security forces and government officials �" two frequent targets for insurgents still seeking to undermine Iraq's efforts to normalize after years of war and violence. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Baghdad military command spokesman Col. Dhia al-Wakeel said they resembled those carried out by al-Qaeda. "They want to send a message that they can target the stability that has been achieved recently," al-Wakeel said. "This will not discourage our security forces." The strikes marked the first major attacks in Iraq in nearly a month, although ongoing political battles between the Shiite-led government and top Sunni and Kurdish officials have threatened to inflame simmering sectarian disputes. Iraq's Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi, is wanted on terror charges that he says are politically motivated, and Kurdish regional leader Massoud Barzani has compared the government in Baghdad to a dictatorship. Aides to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, have dismissed the criticism as baseless. Sunni lawmaker Hamid al-Mutlaq blamed the political wrangling for what he described as Iraq's deteriorating security. "We hold responsible all the government security forces and the leaders of the political process for today's attacks," said al-Mutlaq, a member of parliament's defense and security committee.
