A series of three car bombs situated around the city of Baghdad exploded one right after another on Tuesday—right on the heels of a string of suicide attacks that claimed 30 lives last week. The current death toll from the most recent attack is 17, with more than 50 others wounded. And this isn't going to make people feel better either: al-Qaeda may be involved. "Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, blame is likely to fall on Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaida's local franchise," according to the Associated Press.

Tuesday's bombs hit in the town of Mahmoudiya, the Baghdad suburb of Taji, and one more hit the Shia district in North Baghdad, reports the BBC. There's a switch that goes off in our brains anytime bombs and al-Qaeda are involved—just 11 days ago Presidents Obama and Karzai met and stressed that the big reason the withdrawal of troops in 2014 is happening is because al-Qaeda's grip on the region has weakened. A local al-Qaida affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, has taken responsibility for several recent attacks, including the assassination of a Sunni lawmaker who spoke out against them, reports the AP.

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Alexander Abad-Santos