At least 60 people killed in a series of suicide attacks across Iraqi cities

The attacks punctured the recent calm of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and underscored the continued fragility of Iraq’s security as US troops prepare to leave, more than eight years after the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the worst assault, a roadside bomb followed by a car bomb targeting police killed at least 37 people in Kut, a mainly Shiite Muslim city 95 miles south-east of the capital, Baghdad.

The blasts shattered façades of shops and homes in Kut. Blood was spattered across the street near the crumpled remains of the car used in the bombing.

Dhiyauddin Jalil, a director of the local provincial health department, said more than 68 people were wounded in the Kut blasts and doctors in the city’s main hospital said they were struggling to treat casualties, many with severe burns.

Iraqis were furious at security officials and at prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. “Where is the government with all these explosions across the country? Where is al-Maliki? Why doesn’t he come to see?” said Ali Jumaa Ziad, a shop owner.

Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad security operations, said: “These attacks … are trying to influence the security situation and undermine confidence in the security forces.”

Iraq’s violence has subsided since the height of sectarian slaughter in 2006-7. But militants are testing local security forces just as Baghdad and Washington debate whether US troops should stay past a year-end deadline for withdrawal.

Al-Qaeda affiliate the Islamist State of Iraq has been weakened by the loss of top commanders, and Iraq says its security forces can handle internal threats. But Sunni Muslim Islamists and Shiite militia are still capable of carrying out devastating attacks.

Theodore Karasik, a Middle Eastern security expert at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analyst, said: “It seems that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is playing a propaganda game at the same time it’s trying to show that it can still carry out deadly violence.

“If the US extends its military presence, Al-Qaeda in Iraq can use it as a tool by saying, ‘Look, the Americans have reversed their decision to leave and are staying on as occupiers.’ They could use this as a justification for more attacks.”

Dozens more people were killed or wounded yesterday in bombings and attacks in other cities in Iraq.

At least eight people were killed and 14 wounded when a suicide car bomber attacked a municipality building in Khan Bani Saad, about 20 miles north-east of Baghdad.

Two suicide bombers attacked an Iraqi counter-terrorism unit in Tikrit, 100 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least two policemen and wounding six in a failed attempt to free al-Qaeda prisoners, a police official said.

One attacker detonated his suicide vest hoping to kill a high-ranking counter-terrorism officer; the other was shot dead during the attack, said Captain Jassim al-Jibouri, of the Tikrit counter terrorism unit.

In the southern city of Najaf, at least six people were killed and up to 79 wounded when two car bombs exploded. Police captain Hadi al-Najafi said the bombs targeted a police building.

At least four people were killed and 41 hurt near Kerbala, south-west of Baghdad, when a car bomb exploded near a police station. One man was killed and 12 people injured in simultaneous car and motorbike bombings in the northeastern city of Kirkuk, police sources said.

In al-Wajehiya, a bomb in a parked car went off near a government building, killing one policeman and wounding 13.