Baghdad ( CNN ) -- A militant group with links to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a deadly wave of bombings across Iraq , strikes designed to undermine government security plans for the upcoming Arab League summit . The Islamic State of Iraq , an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq , made the claim in a statement posted on an al Qaeda website . The explosions killed 45 people and wounded hundreds Tuesday . Occurring on the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq , the attacks were `` coordinated '' and launched by `` Sunni lions '' in Baghdad and other provinces `` simultaneously , '' the online statement said . Sunni lions is an adulatory reference to militants . The bombings were meant to target the security plan `` of the government of fools inside the Green Zone , in preparation of the meeting of Arab tyrants in Baghdad , '' the statement said . The country is hosting the next Arab League summit March 29 . Al Qaeda in Iraq is a Sunni militant group in a majority Shiite country . The Sunni minority had a great deal of power during the reign of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein but lost its clout after he was toppled . Many Sunnis have felt disenfranchised in Iraq in the post-Hussein era and some have embraced the insurgency . Sectarian conflict raged between Iraq 's Shiites and Sunnis during the Iraq war . While the insurgency 's support and potency has eroded in Iraq , authorities believe the bombings were meant to send a message that the militant group is still able to carry out such attacks . Police in Baghdad reported more violence Wednesday . A mother and her three children were slain in Zafaraniya , a Sunni-Shiite neighborhood in the city 's southeast . Gunmen shot dead a Ministry of Trade employee in the northwest . Nine people were wounded , six in a car bombing in central Baghdad and nine by a roadside bomb in the southeast .
The Islamic State of Iraq is an al Qaeda front group . The group says it was targeting security plans for the Arab League summit . Comment: At least 45 are dead after the wave of bombs on the 9th anniversary of the invasion .