At least 57 people have died following a series of bomb attacks across Baghdad - just days after American troops left Iraq for the final time. The blasts come amid a political crisis in the country, with the vice president accused of running death squads and the prime minister watrning he could break off power sharing.
The attacks were the deadliest in more than two weeks and coincided with the morning rush hour.
Iraqi officials said at least 12 explosions went off in nine neighbourhoods around the city.
The violence ranged from sticky bombs attached to cars, to roadside bombs and vehicles filled with explosives.
The violence comes with Iraqi politicians at loggerheads over a warrant issued for the arrest of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanding that Kurdish authorities hand over the Sunni Arab leader, who is currently holed up in the region.
Hashemi denies the charges.
Maliki has also called for his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak, who belongs to the same Iraqiya bloc as Hashemi, to be sacked after he described the Shiite-led government as a "dictatorship".
Iraqiya, meanwhile, has boycotted parliament and the cabinet, and Maliki has threatened to replace their ministers in the year-old unity government.
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