Wave of fatal bombings widens fissures in Iraq

A coordinated series of explosions struck a party headquarters, two mosques, a market and a shop in Baghdad on Friday, deepening the country's turmoil amid a political impasse and a concerted military campaign against the leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. The attacks, which killed at least 58 people and wounded scores more in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, were the worst of an intermittent wave of bombings since the parliamentary election on March 7. The outcome of the vote remains unclear, as election officials prepare to conduct a partial recount in Baghdad and possibly other provinces. The deadliest three bombings on Friday exploded in rapid succession near the headquarters of the political movement led by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Sadr City, the impoverished Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad that bears his family's name. Each Friday hundreds of his followers gather in an open square there for noon prayers, and they accounted for many of the victims.