BAGHDAD — Attacks across Iraq, including 13 car bombs, killed at least 18 people Wednesday, April 9, highlighting the persistent danger from militants 11 years after American forces captured Baghdad.

The latest violence is part of a protracted surge in nationwide bloodshed that has killed more than 2,400 people so far this year.

Eight car bombs struck seven separate areas of Baghdad in the morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding at least 49, security and medical officials said.

In the deadliest single attack in the capital, a car bomb exploded near a traffic police office in the district of Kadhimiyah, killing at least three people and wounding at least eight.

Another car bomb exploded near a vegetable market, while main thoroughfares were also targeted.

Five more car bombs struck various areas of Wasit province, south of Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding more than 40, a police officer and a health department official said.

And in the Saba al-Bur area north of Baghdad, two mortar rounds killed at least one person and wounded at least five.