Baghdad ? Seven explosions ripped through Iraq’s capital Monday, killing at least 32 people and wounding more than 130 in the latest sign that violence may be on the upswing again.

Most of Monday’s explosions occurred in crowded shopping markets or other busy gathering places, and most victims were civilians, many of them women and children. All but two of the bombs detonated before 9 a.m.

The explosions came less than two months before U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraqi cities and weeks after President Barack Obama announced plans to withdraw most Americans from the country by late 2010.

Though U.S. troop deaths in Iraq have remained relatively low in recent months, the toll among locals is creeping upward. In early March, a string of bombings killed several dozen Iraqis in a matter of days in Baghdad.

The violence challenges contentions by some U.S. officials and others that Iraq is on a path to stability, and that the planned American troop drawdown won’t leave chaos in its wake.