Al Qaeda's branch in Iraq claimed the responsibility for the wave of bombings that killed 58 people, mostly in Shiite areas across the country, to support "oppressed Sunnis."

According to the Associated Press, in a statement posted late Monday, July 29, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, said they carried out the attacks earlier that day, mainly car bombs targeting marketplaces and parking lots.

The statement was posted on a website commonly used by jihadists and its style was consistent with earlier al Qaeda statements.

The bombings were the latest episode in a wave of bloodshed that has swept Iraq since April, killing more than 3,000 people and worsening the already strained ties between Iraq's Sunni minority and the Shiite-led government.