Sectarian bombings continue apace across Iraq in general and the capital city of Baghdad in particular, killing over 200 in the past week and showing that rather than slowing down, the summer violence is actually speeding up as winter approaches.

Today, the attacks hit Shi’ite neighborhoods in Baghdad, with a pair of car bombings hitting a busy shopping district. Gunmen also killed a Justice Ministry official in western Baghdad.

Sectarian violence in Iraq never really ended after the US occupation, but had quieted down quite a bit, until an April crackdown on Sunni protesters by the military gave Sunni militias new recruiting opportunities.

That soaring tension, coupled with the Syrian Civil War has given al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) a new lease on life, and there seems to be no prospect for the latest round of violence settling down any time soon.