Agencies are reporting that a wave of explosions in Shia areas of Baghdad have lead scores dead and many wounded.

Agence France-Presse reports this morning that as many as 60 have died. They report:

A spate of attacks against Shiite pilgrims and neighborhoods in Iraq killed at least 61 people on Thursday as the country grapples with a weeks-long political row that has stoked sectarian tensions.

The violence, which wounded more than 100, was the worst since 67 people died on December 22, soon after the crisis erupted when Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was charged with running a hit squad US troops pulled out.

Unlike the December attacks, which mostly hit a variety of neighborhoods in Baghdad, Thursday's violence focused solely on Shiites.

The explosions began with a bomb attached to a motorcycle in Sadr City where a group of day laborers was waiting for work. The latest attack, which killed at least 30, targeted Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy Shiite city of Karbala.

From Al Jazeera:

"Dahr Jamail, reporting from Baghdad, said that the the timing of the attacks "couldn't have come at a worse time", pointing to the tense political situation in the country."

AP has more with this video: