Iraqis look over the wreckage from an overnight car bombing in Sadr City. At least 93 people were killed Thursday in the second-deadliest day in Iraq since U.S. troops left the country in December.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said today that a blistering string of attacks across the country the previous day ultimately killed at least 93 people and wounded many more, as the extent of the violence grew clearer and mourners began to bury their dead.

It was Iraq’s second deadliest day since U.S. troops left in December, surpassed only by a wave of coordinated killings last month. Thursday’s attacks seemed meant to strike fear in Iraqis and undermine faith in the Shiite-led government’s security measures ahead of what was supposed to be a festive holiday weekend.

“Al-Qaida wants to send a clear message to the Iraqi people that the terrorists are still strong and able to harm them despite the huge amount of funds spent on the Iraqi security forces,” said Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, a member of Parliament’s security and defense committee. “The terrorists want to tell the Iraqi people that the security forces are still incapable of protecting them.”

Officials had feared an upsurge in violence coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this weekend. Steps have been taken to ramp up security measures to protect the crowds who gather in public places such as mosques, parks and restaurants to celebrate the occasion.

Thursday’s attacks began early in the north of Iraq and ended with deadly bomb explosions near busy markets, restaurants and ice cream parlors shortly before midnight.

Car bombs were to blame for many of the deaths, though attackers also deployed smaller explosives and shot some of the victims. A suicide bomber claimed seven lives when he blew himself up inside a teashop in Tal Afar.

Since the start of August, more than 190 people have been killed in violence across Iraq, showing that insurgents led by al-Qaida’s Iraqi franchise remain a lethal force eight months after the last U.S. troops left the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday’s strikes. Coordinated bombings and related attacks are a favorite tactic of the al-Qaida offshoot, known as the Islamic State of Iraq.

Among the higher casualty numbers disclosed today were 21 people killed when a car bomb detonated shortly before midnight near an ice cream shop in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Zafaraniyah neighborhood.

Another bomb exploded near an ice cream parlor and fruit and vegetable stalls in Sadr City.