Baghdad bombings target mostly Shiite neighborhoods

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN

(CNN) -- At least 41 people were killed and more than 165 others wounded Saturday in a series of bombings that hit Baghdad over a two-hour period, health and police officials said.

The 11 car bombs and six roadside bomb explosions were in predominantly Shiite areas. They all happened after sunset.The blasts occurred a day after a hidden bomb went off during a sermon inside a Sunni mosque in Al-Wajihiya, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding 56 others.

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Two of the bombs Saturday exploded in the Karrada neighborhood of central Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 12 others. One went off on a busy road and the other outside a popular fresh juice shop, officials said.

The bloodshed comes amid a recent increase in violence, much of it stemming from discord between Sunnis and Shiites.

Sunnis have long felt politically marginalized under a Shiite-led government in the post-Saddam Hussein era. They enjoyed more political clout during Saddam's rule, before his ouster after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.