A series of car bombs Tuesday killed over 30 people and injured more than 100. They were followed today by more car bombs, with the attacks this time claiming the lives of at least 6 more.

The Washington Post notes that Iraq’s Shiite-led government has launched a counter-insurgency campaign – dubbed with the arguably unhelpful title “Revenge for the Martyrs” – but that it has thus far failed to stem the violence:

Despite a counter-insurgency operation recently launched by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government, there has been no significant dent in the pace of attacks. The operation, dubbed “Revenge for the Martyrs” has so far focused mainly on Sunni-dominated areas, particularly former Sunni militant strongholds. In a televised weekly speech, al-Maliki appealed to Iraqis to support the operation.

The attacks are the latest in a five-month wave of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence. Over 4,000 people have been killed in tit-for-tat attacks by Sunnis and Shiites. Just on Sunday nearly 60 people were killed by a dozen attacks conducted in mostly Shiite-majority cities.

Analysts have expressed concerns that the country may be sliding into “the scale [of] sectarian slaughter” of 2006 and 2007.

[Photo: rodrigo rodrigues / YouTube]