Death toll in Baghdad bombings rises to 40-official Thursday, 22 December 2011 10:33

BAGHDAD: The death toll from a series of bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital has climbed to at least 40, with scores wounded, a government health official said on Thursday.

More than 10 explosions struck Baghdad on Thursday morning, in the first apparently coordinated attack on Iraq's capital since a crisis erupted between its Shi'ite-led government and Sunni rivals after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops.

At least 149 people were wounded, said Ziad Tareq, a spokesman of Iraq's health ministry.          (Reuters)