By Aseel Kami
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Seven car bombs exploded across Baghdad Monday, killing at least 37 people and wounding scores, in what U.S. and Iraqi officials said was a coordinated strike by al Qaeda militants.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the attacks were a "gift" from members of Saddam Hussein's once omnipotent Baath party, aided by al Qaeda. The 62nd anniversary of the pan-Arab nationalist party's foundation in Syria falls Tuesday.
"The seven car explosions are a gift from the buried Baath party in memory of its foundation, which was an evil omen for the Iraqi nation," he said in a statement.
A separate statement from Iraq's Presidency Council, headed by President Jalal Talabani, expressed deep concern about the blasts and called for action from the security forces.
An explosion at a popular market in the Shi'ite Muslim slum of Sadr City in east Baghdad killed at least 12 people and wounded 65. Another car bomb blew up next to a group of labourers queuing for work, killing six people and wounding 17.
Hours later, south Baghdad's Um al-Maalif neighbourhood was shaken by two blasts in a market, killing 12 and wounding 32.
The latest attacks underscore the challenges Iraqi security forces face as U.S. troops prepare to leave by the end of 2011.
Overall violence has fallen in Iraq to levels not seen since just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, but militants, especially Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, still carry out large-scale bombings. The last big bomb in Baghdad killed 20 people on March 26.
Preventing all car bombs in the crowded streets of Baghdad -- a sprawling maze of crumbling buildings and concrete walls housing millions of people -- is all but impossible.
Two other blasts shook a market area of Husseiniya, on Baghdad's northern outskirts, killing four, and a street in eastern Baghdad, apparently targeting the convoy of an Interior Ministry official, killing two of his guards and a bystander.
"The explosion caused major damage to buildings and they even hurt some children," shopkeeper Abdul-Jabar Saad said of that attack, which he witnessed. "God damn these people."
Yet another blast later wounded two people at a south Baghdad vegetable market.
AL QAEDA OR SUNNI GUARDS?
The attacks followed a week of arrests in Baghdad by Iraq's Shi'ite-led government of Sunni Arab fighters known as Awakening Councils, or Majalis al-Sahwa in Arabic.
The Iraqi government insists it is only detaining those wanted for grave crimes, but the fighters -- many of them former insurgents -- fear it is settling sectarian scores.
Analyst Kadhum al-Muqdadi, a Baghdad University professor, suggested the bombs might be a strike in response to the raids, one of which sparked clashes just over a week ago between Iraqi forces and supporters of an arrested Sahwa leader.
"Any security action carries the risk of a reaction," he told Reuters. "These could be the work of Sahwas or just of opportunists exploiting this issue."
The Sahwas first switched sides and joined with U.S. forces to battle al Qaeda in late 2006, manning checkpoints and conducting raids. Many have themselves been killed in insurgent attacks and U.S. officials doubted they were behind these bombs.
"Our assessment is that the attacks today were a coordinated effort by al Qaeda. There were no indicators that the (Sahwa fighters) ... were involved in any of the attacks," said U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Smith.
The Iraqi government started taking control of the guards late last year, but mistrust runs deep. Some complain they have not been paid for two months, although Iraqi officials say that was an administrative glitch that has now been fixed.
Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a founder of the Sahwa movement, also said the bombs were unlikely to be the work of the guards.
"There were bombings in Baghdad before the arrests and after the arrests," he said, blaming al Qaeda for the attacks.
Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the attacks "carry the fingerprints of al Qaeda-linked groups."
Iraqi and U.S. officials say a small number of the 90,000-odd Sunni guards still have links to al Qaeda and other insurgents, but the government insists they are a minority.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas, Hadir Abbas, Tim Cox and Wisam Mohammed; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Charles Dick)