At least 29 people were killed and dozens were wounded after five Shiite mosques were bombed in Baghdad last Friday.

The worst of these attacks claimed the lives of 24 people when a parked car exploded outside the Shurufi mosque in northeast Baghdad’s Shaab neighborhood just as worshipers were leaving Friday prayers. The mosque is known as a stronghold of supporters of the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr, long an opponent of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

In the next 10 minutes, four smaller explosive devices detonated at mosques in south and east Baghdad, killing five people and injuring 34. At least one of the mosques is known to be linked to Sadr’s Shiite rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, suggesting that no particular Shiite faction was being targeted.

The most likely suspects are Sunni militants intent on stirring up sectarian conflict. Authorities noted that the timing pointed to a high degree of coordination by the attackers.

An internal memo from a senior adviser to the US military in Baghdad obtained by news organizations suggested that much of the low-level violence still prevalent in the capital was no longer being perpetrated by the Sunni Arab group Al Qaeda, but by rival factions jockeying for power within the government. That view also is widely held by Iraqis.

The memo, written by Baghdad Operations Command Advisory Team Chief Col. Timothy R. Reese, said, “The extent of AQ influence in Iraq is so limited as to be insignificant. Only when they get lucky with a mass-casualty attack are they relevant.”

It added, “We are merely convenient targets for delivering a message against Maliki by certain groups, and perhaps by Maliki when he wants us to be targeted. Extremist violence from all groups is directed towards affecting their political standing within the existing power structures of Iraq. There is no longer any coherent insurgency or serious threat to the stability of the GOI [government of Iraq] posed by violent groups.”

(via the Los Angeles Times)