A series of concerted bombings ripped through Baghdad on Thursday as attacks across Iraq killed at least 35 people and left little doubt that a brief respite in the violence earlier in the week was over.
The renewed violence came as Iraqis welcomed the resignation of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after mid-term elections, even as they wondered what it meant for the future of US troops in the war-torn country.
"The departure of Rumsfeld is not to be regretted and is a small consolation to the injured Iraqi people who have suffered so much from his policies and those of his aides," said a front-page editorial in the international edition of the Al-Zaman newspaper.
A politician Adnan al-Dulaimi, however, did not expect any immediate improvement in the situation because of the long-lasting effects of the policies implemented by Rumsfeld.
"We think the mistakes that Rumsfeld committed in Iraq cannot be corrected because they are too deep and have left scars on the country," he said.
However, powerful lawmaker Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, doubted that the Democrats would be able to change US policy on Iraq very much.
"Iraq is an American responsibility regardless of who is ruling in Washington," he told AFP. "The Democrats will change their tune the minute they take power because of the importance of what's going on."
At least 24 people were killed in Baghdad itself as the violent capital was wracked by at least eight explosions. The worst was a suicide car bomb near the Mishin shopping center in the south-east of the city that killed seven people and wounded 27.
Police said a mortar shell was fired at the site to lure people in before the car bomber detonated his vehicle, ensuring maximum casualties.
A bomb then exploded in the Suq Haraj market in the Bab al-Sharqi area, killing three and wounding 19, a medic at Al-Kindi hospital said.
Later in the afternoon a suicide car bomb exploded in a village near the Abu Ghraib area on the capital's western outskirts killing five and wounding six.
Northeast Baghdad's Qahira neighbourhood was hit by a blast that shook the Faraj market, killing three people and wounding 12.
The nearby College of Fine Arts was also attacked by a car bomb that killed two more and wounded three others.
Security forces were targeted as well, with one bomb near an Iraqi army patrol killing a soldier and wounding four passers-by on east Baghdad's Palestine Street.
Three policemen were also wounded in a roadside bombing near central Baghdad's Al-Shaab stadium.
A steady barrage of mortar fire since overnight continued well into the day crashing on neighbourhoods in the capital.
Late-night attacks filled the night with flashes, smoke and the sound of explosions followed by gunfire.
On Thursday more mortars were fired by rival groups, with nine rounds hitting the Adhamiyah district, killing three and wounding 11. Three hit the Kadhimiyah district, wounding 15.
The flash-point city of Baquba, north-east of the capital, reported 10 deaths in numerous incidents.
An Iraqi army source said 34 people were also arrested in Baquba for carrying out violent attacks, including five Egyptians and five Sudanese.
On Thursday police also recovered 34 bodies, 25 of them in Baghdad, of people killed in sectarian bloodshed.
Deep in the south of the country, meanwhile, one civilian was killed and another three wounded when a bomb exploded near their car north-east of the city
of Amara, a security official said.
The lattes wave of violence erupted in Baghdad and other volatile regions when a round-the-clock curfew was lifted on Tuesday.
It was imposed on Sunday to thwart any attacks during an Iraqi High Tribunal hearing that sentenced deposed president Saddam Hussein to hang for ordering the execution of 148 Shia from the village of Dujail in the 1980s.