* Several bomb attacks reported in Baghdad
* Dozens of attacks in rest of Iraq
* Tensions high over political crisis
(Updates death tolls, adds context)
BAGHDAD, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Simultaneous early morning
attacks on mostly Shi'ite targets across Iraq killed at least 60
people and wounded dozens on Thursday in one of the bloodiest
days of violence since U.S. troops pulled out in mid-December.
The attacks that appeared to pitch al Qaeda-linked Sunni
Muslim insurgents against Shi'ites raised fears of a return to
the widespread sectarian carnage that tore Iraq apart and cost
thousands of lives in 2006 and 2007.
The violence breaks weeks of relative calm as Shi'ite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Sunni leaders have sought to resolve
a political crisis that followed the U.S. withdrawal.
At least 32 people were killed in blasts in Baghdad where 10
explosions tore through mainly Shi'ite neighbourhoods during
rush hour and other attacks targeted police patrols, commuters
and crowds gathered in shopping areas.
More than a dozen blasts and attacks hit other cities across
Iraq from Mosul in the north to Hilla, south of Baghdad, many of
them targeting police.
The violence was aimed at Shi'ite neighbourhoods and
security forces, a frequent target of Sunni insurgents. Iraqi
officials had predicted such groups would try to stir sectarian
tensions with attacks after American forces went home.
While violence has ebbed since the height of the war, Sunni
insurgents affiliated to al Qaeda are still capable of
large-scale assaults, often targeting government buildings and
police in an attempt to show Maliki cannot guarantee Iraqis'
security.
In Thursday's violence, one car bomb in the capital killed
at least nine people and wounded 27 in the upmarket Karrada
neighbourhood, hurling shrapnel into the next street and blowing
out glass from nearby buildings.
At least two other blasts hit Karrada, including another car
bomb attack that killed one person, police said. Witnesses saw
at least four wrecked cars full of shrapnel and bloodied seats
near a popular ice-cream shop.
In at least three Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad, nine
policemen were killed, and in the capital's northwestern
Kadhimiya district, a car bomb killed six people when it struck
a street lined with restaurants.
Another car bomb targeting a police patrol in the mixed
Mansour neighbourhood killed two people. Twin roadside bombs
killed two people and wounded 9 in a mostly Shi'ite district of
the southern Doura neighbourhood, police said.
In the biggest attack outside the capital, a car bomb killed
seven people and wounded 33 in the town of Balad, north of
Baghdad.
Iraq's political crisis erupted after Maliki moved against
two senior members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc
shortly after the U.S. troop withdrawal in December, prompting a
walkout by Iraqiya lawmakers that lasted until late January.
Tensions eased as Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs tried to
negotiate an end to the crisis. But a week ago a panel of judges
detailed 150 attacks they said were carried out by death squads
under Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's command. Maliki
sought Hashemi's arrest in December.
Hashemi, who has taken refuge in the autonomous region of
Kurdistan, has denied accusations made against him, dismissing
them as part of a plot to destroy Maliki's opponents.
The crisis was followed by a wave of attacks in December and
January on Shi'ite neighbourhoods, including a suicide bombing
on a Shi'ite funeral procession that killed 31 in Baghdad and an
attack on Shi'ite pilgrims that left 53 dead in Basra.
Violence had ebbed until Sunday when a suicide car bomber
killed 19 people in an attack on a Baghdad police academy.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Francois Murphy; Editing by
Patrick Markey and Giles Elgood)
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