Death toll rises from wave of bombings in Iraq

Bombs ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities today killing scores of people in a wave of violence that shattered what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan.

The violence, in which at least 57 innocent people died, struck from the northern city of Kirkuk to Baghdad to the southern Shiite cities of Najaf, Kut and Karbala, and emphasised the persistent ability of insurgents to wreak havoc.