Smoke rises from the site of a bomb attack in central Baghdad Dec 22, 2011. A series of explosions hit Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least?49 people in a wave of?violence on Iraq's capital since a crisis erupted between its Shi'ite-led government and Sunni rivals after the last US troops left, police said. [Photo/Agencies]

BAGHDAD - The spokesman for the Iraqi health ministry says that at least 49 people have been killed in a wave of violence across the city.

Ziad Tariq says at least 167 people were also wounded in the attacks that struck Baghdad on Thursday morning.

The wave of attacks is the worst to hit Baghdad in months. It targeted neighborhoods around the city in an apparently coordinated campaign of violence designed to wreak havoc.