Deadly blast hits Iraqi Kurdish neighborhood north of Baghdad

The Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility Friday for a wave of coordinated bombings in the Baghdad area earlier this week, as new attacks killed another 14 in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the country.

Friday's deadliest attack struck after nightfall in a Kurdish neighborhood in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khormato. Fighters set off a non-lethal stun bomb apparently designed to attract a crowd before detonating a real bomb that killed 12 and wounded 10, said the town's police chief, Col. Hussein Ali Rasheed.

Tuz Khormato is a frequent flashpoint for violence. The town sits in a band of territory contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen about 130 miles north of Baghdad.

This is the most lethal wave of violence in Iraq since 2008, raising concerns that the country is heading back toward the brink of civil war fueled by Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divisions.

Hours earlier, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, posted a message on a website taking responsibility for the deadly attacks that rocked the Baghdad area on Wednesday. Coordinated car bombings and other violence that day killed at least 82 people, mostly in Shiite areas of the capital.

The group claimed the attacks were a response to the Aug. 19 execution of 17 Sunni prisoners, all but one of them convicted on terrorism-related charges. It said tight security measures imposed by Iraqi forces failed to stop the attacks, and the group vowed to carry out more attacks against government targets.

"We will avenge the blood of our brothers," the group said.

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed. It was posted on a website commonly used by jihadists, and its style was consistent with that of earlier al-Qaeda statements.

The bombings were the latest in a wave of bloodshed that has swept Iraq since April, killing more than 4,000 people and straining already fragile ties between the Sunni minority and the Shiite-led government. More than 570 people have been killed so far in August.

Al-Qaeda is hoping to tap into the anger of more moderate Sunnis, who began holding rallies in December against the government over what they maintain is their second-class treatment. Among their biggest grievances are the application of tough anti-terrorism measures that they feel unfairly target their sect, and the treatment of Sunni detainees in Iraqi prisons.

Attacks on Sunni mosques have been on the rise in recent months, raising fears that Shiite armed groups are starting to carry out retaliatory strikes. 

Police also reported five people killed and eight wounded in attacks in Baghdad the previous night. That brought the number of people killed in Iraq on Thursday to 29.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press