The Associated Press reports: A wave of car bombings and other attacks in Iraq killed at least 53 people on Sunday. The recent increase in violence, the worst since 2008, has raised fears that the country is returning to the level of killing that pushed it to the brink of civil war after the 2003 US-led invasion. More than 4,000 people have died since the start of April, including 804 just in August, according to the UN.

Sunday’s deadliest attack was in the city of Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, where a car bomb near an outdoor market killed nine and wounded 15, a police officer said. A few minutes later, another car bomb went off nearby, killing six and wounding 14.

In the nearby town of Iskandariya, 30 miles south of the capital, a bomb went off in a car park, killing four and wounding nine, police said. Another car bomb went off in an industrial area of the Shia city of Kerbala, killing five and wounding 25, a police officer said. Kerbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad. In the aftermath, security officials inspected burnt-out cars in front of what appeared to be a smashed row of workshops. [Continue reading…]