(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130320-iraq-bomb-6a.photoblog600.jpg)Mohammed Ameen / ReutersIraqis examine damage inflicted on their house by a car-bomb attack in the Al-Mashtal district of Baghdad Tuesday. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility and warned of more attacks to come.By Aseel Kami, ReutersBAGHDAD - Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings and suicide attacks on Tuesday that killed around 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17368610-bombs-kill-at-least-50-on-10th-anniversary-of-iraq-invasion?lite).
Islamic State of Iraq, the country's al Qaeda wing, is regaining strength, invigorated by the Sunni Muslim rebellion in next door Syria and has carried out dozens of high-profile attacks since the start of the year.
"What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God's will after this we will have our revenge," the al Qaeda statement posted on a jihadist website said.
Car bombs and suicide blasts hit mainly Shiite districts in Baghdad and other cities on Tuesday.
Suicide attackers have struck nearly two times a week since January, a rate Iraq has not seen for several years.
Sunni Islamists see Iraq's Shiite-led government as oppressors of the country's Sunni minority and target Shiites to try to provoke a sectarian confrontation like the inter-communal slaughter that killed thousands in 2006-7.
A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, the oil-producing country still struggles with sectarian tensions and political instability that test the fragile unity among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish ethnic groups.Ten years after the US launched a "shock and awe" campaign toppling Saddam Hussein, the cost of the Iraq War is now estimated to be about $2 trillion -- but the region is far from stable. NBC's Richard Engel reports.Related:
Iraq, 10 years on: Did invasion bring 'hope and progress' to millions as Bush vowed? (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17325601-iraq-10-years-on-did-invasion-bring-hope-and-progress-to-millions-as-bush-vowed?lite)
'People turned on Christians': Persecuted Iraqi minority reflects on life after Saddam (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17357746-people-turned-on-christians-persecuted-iraqi-minority-reflects-on-life-after-saddam?lite)
Then and now: Revisiting Iraqi sites a decade later (http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/18/17361563-then-and-now-revisiting-iraqi-sites-a-decade-later?chromedomain=worldnews&lite)
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