Iraq bombing wave kills more than 60

Workers clean up the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad August 11, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Overall, some 16 car bombings and other attacks killed more than 60 people and wounded over 200 across Iraq on Saturday, according to latest data.

The attacks made one of the country's deadliest Ramadan months in recent years, as the country is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in five years.

In July, more than 1,000 Iraqis were killed and more than 2,300 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence, the deadliest month in more than five years, according to UN data.

The dire situation raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The US government blamed al-Qaida for Saturday's attacks in Iraq,  calling the attackers "enemies of Islam."

Describing them as "cowardly attacks" that bear the hallmarks of similar suicide and vehicle bomb attacks in Iraq over the past 90 days, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said most of these attacks "have been perpetrated by al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI)," which is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu D'ua.

"These attacks were aimed at families celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The terrorists who committed these acts are enemies of Islam and a shared enemy of the United States, Iraq, and the international community," Psaki said.

The US has offered a 10-million-dollars reward for information that helps authorities kill or capture Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is now based in Syria and has changed the name of AQI to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham. This reward is second only to information leading to the capture of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaida, Psaki said.

The United States is prepared to work closely with the Iraqi government "to confront the threat posed by Al Qaida in Iraq and other terrorist groups," she said.

The US and Iraq will hold discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation on fighting terrorism and other areas during next week's visit to Washington by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, she added.

Washington's response came after it temporarily closed embassies and missions across the Islamic world last week on alert of increased threat of potential terror attacks.

Saturday's attacks also followed major crackdowns on terrorists and militants in Iraq, which are among the biggest security operations since the pullout of US troops in December 2011.