BAGHDAD, April 6, (Agencies): At least seven bombs ripped through apartment buildings across Baghdad Tuesday and another struck a market, killing 50 people and wounding more than 160, authorities said.
The explosions were the latest in a five-day spree of attacks in and around the capital that have killed at least 119 people.
The violence, which has largely targeted families and homes, is reminiscent of the sectarian bloodshed that tore Iraq apart from 2005 to 2007 and prompted the United States to send tens of thousands more troops to the front lines. But even since that time, sectarian violence and attacks on civilians have flared in cycles, especially surrounding important events such as the election.

Iraqi and US officials both blamed the latest spike in attacks on al-Qaeda insurgents seizing on gaping security lapses created by the political deadlock that has gripped the country since its March 7 parliamentary election failed to produce a clear winner.
“This is blamed on the power vacuum of course, and on how democracy is being raped in Iraq,” former prime minister Ayad Allawi told The Associated Press in an interview. His political coalition, Iraqiya, came out ahead in last month’s vote, narrowly edging Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bloc by just two seats.
“Because people are sensing there are powers who want to obstruct the path of democracy, terrorists and al-Qaeda are on the go,” Allawi said. “I think their operations will increase in Iraq.”
He also raised the prospect that the country’s political impasse could last for months as both sides try to cobble together the majority needed to govern.
“It could either be formed in two months or it could last four or five months,” he said.
Al-Maliki adviser Sadiq al-Rikabi challenged Allawi’s suggestion that Iraqi security forces had let down their guard since the elections.

“It is true that terrorism and attacks are attributed to the political situation the country is experiencing, and we have faced terrorism before elections as well,” al-Rikabi said. “Some parts are using terrorism events for political goals.”
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad’s operations command center, said the attackers detonated homemade bombs and, in one case, a car packed with explosives. He said there were at least seven blasts. The US military in Baghdad said there were eight.
Al-Moussawi said is Iraq in a “state of war” with terrorists.
Police and medical officials said the death toll from Tuesday’s explosions was at least 49, and that women and children were among the dead. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release information publicly.
The first blasts hit around 9:30 a.m. in the Shula area of northwest Baghdad, striking a residential building and an intersection about a mile away, according to police and hospital officials who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
A few minutes later, at 9:45 am a bomb left in a plastic bag exploded at a restaurant in the Allawi district downtown, near the Culture Ministry. Dozens of people gathered at the bomb site in the hours after the explosion, digging through bricks in the hopes of finding survivors.
Several hours later, a parked car bomb exploded in a market, killing six civilians, police and hospital officials.
The bombings were the fourth set of attacks with multiple casualties across Iraq in five days.

Reparations
Meanwhile, Iraq is seeking to reduce the amount of annual oil revenue it sets aside for war reparations, primarily to Kuwait, by 80 percent, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations told agencies on Tuesday.
Nearly 20 years after Iraq, then under the rule of Saddam Hussein, invaded its oil-producing neighbor, Baghdad is pressing the UN Security Council to “forgive this compensation or reduce the percentage.”
Iraq has said it owes $25.5 billion in reparations, with $24 billion due to Kuwait alone.
“We think either to forgive the compensation 100 percent or to reduce it to 1 percent,” Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati said. “We can accept 1 percent,” he added.
Under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, Iraq is setting aside 5 percent of its oil revenues to pay war reparations that resulted from the invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991.
Asked what the 15-nation panel charged with overseeing peace and security issues at the world body was considering, al-Bayati said: “I think the Security Council is trying to convince other groups, like the UN Compensation Commission, to meet in the middle, something like that.”
Kuwait has opposed ending Iraq’s Chapter 7 status. Baghdad argues it needs the extra cash to help fund rebuilding and investment projects.

Al-Bayati said the government’s budget estimates $72.4 billion this year in oil revenue. That would mean annual payments could potentially be cut to roughly $724 million from $3.62 billion.
Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves, but years of neglect and war have left its oil fields dilapidated. It has awarded billions of dollars of contracts to major oil companies seeking to expand production capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in about six years from about 2.5 mln bpd now.
Nations such as the United Kingdom have previously endorsed Iraq’s request to lower the war reparation payments.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has said he would also strongly support Iraq and others to come up with alternative solutions to the payments.
Al-Bayati said the payments are a big burden on Iraq and its “people are paying a heavy price for a crime committed by Saddam.”
“So far we have paid over $27 billion and we still have to pay over $25 billion. So the total would be around $53 billion in compensation, which is a lot for Iraq given our budget,” al-Bayati said.
Withdraw
In another development, the White House says a deadly spike in violence in Iraq is not expected to alter US plans to withdraw its combat forces this year.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Gen Ray Odierno, the top US military official in Iraq, does not believe the violence threatens the ability of the US military to draw down its forces this year.
US commanders plan to end combat operations on Aug 31 and withdraw all forces by the end of 2011.