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• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Bombs went off in food markets, residential neighborhoods, and checkpoints in and around Baghdad today, on the tenth anniversary of the US announcement of its invasion of Iraq.

The Wall Street Journal reports there were at least 15 attacks, mostly car bombs, between 8 and 9 am local time, primarily in Shiite neighborhoods of the capital and Iraqi Army locations. According to the Associated Press, at least 56 were killed and more than 200 were wounded.

No group has claimed responsibility yet, but the Journal reports that they bear similarities to previous violence claimed by Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which has accepted responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including one on March 17 that targeted the justice ministry. According to AP, AQI "favors spectacular, coordinated bombings intended to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-led government."

The attacks are not surprising, and would not be even if it was not an important anniversary. After declining, then leveling off from a peak in 2006 and 2007, sectarian violence in Iraq began rising once again last year. The rise in attacks came on the heels of the completion of the US troop withdrawal and as political infighting brought Sunni-Shiite tensions to the forefront.

As º£½Ç´óÉñ reports, the concrete walls surrounding the Iraqi parliament are going back up, only a year after they were taken down in a nod to improved security in the capital. For the most part, the attacks appear to be Sunni insurgent attacks attempting to destabilize the Shiite-led government, which has taken steps to block Sunni participation in politics. 

Prior to the US invasion, predominantly Sunni Baathists, led by Saddam Hussein, dominated the government and security forces. Shiites have most power and influence now, and the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has consistently marginalized his Sunni Arab political opponents.

The country has also been rocked by nearly weekly Sunni protests demanding that Iranian influence in the country be curtailed and that their lack of standing in the post-war power-sharing government that increasingly does anything but distribute power among Shiites and Sunnis be mitigated. In 2012, Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi fled Baghdad prior to being sentenced to death on charges of leading a death squad that targeted Shiite leaders. He said the charges were fabricated for political advantage.

BBC journalist Jim Muir describes the forces that have left the unity government a hollow shell, both a reaction to attacks by Sunni groups and a catalyst for further attacks:

As the Monitor reports:

The New York Times reports that although Baghdad is flooded with foreign journalists covering the anniversary, it is barely a blip on the radar for most Iraqis – day-to-day life is still too unpredictable.

On the 10th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, former and current Monitor journalists who covered the war are looking at where Iraq stands today and how things stood at the peak of the war:

*ÌýTen years after invasion, Iraq remains dangerously divided – In the new Iraq, old sectarian fears remain. Around Baghdad's Green Zone, concrete walls pulled down a year ago are going back up.

*ÌýThe day the conflict changed – Ten years after the Iraq invasion, reporter Scott Peterson recalls the day a suicide attack threw him out of bed in a formerly quiet Baghdad neighborhood – and blew a hole in any sense that the war was keeping its distance.

*ÌýOn the road to Baghdad for 17 days – Andy Nelson, who photographed the US invasion of Iraq, recalls the pulling down of Saddam's statue – and early signs of chaos. 

*ÌýThe Iraq war: a timeline – A photo collection depicting the main events of the conflict.