Another day brought another horrible set of headlines out of Baghdad: On Tuesday, four bombings, one after another, killed dozens of people and left streaks of blood and strewn body parts across public markets.

As familiar as the last week of violence in Baghdad — more than 200 killed since last Wednesday — might seem to those who have watched Iraq over the years, this is not business as usual here. The American history in Iraq tells us that successful bombings in Baghdad are not to be taken lightly.

The official talking points say the new wave of bombings is a sign that the Islamic State is losing. The terrorists are lashing out in Baghdad because they are abandoning territory to pro-Iraqi ground forces and American-led airstrikes. They’re “on the defensive,” as Brett McGurk, President Obama’s special envoy here, said recently.

There is truth to that line. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is losing territory in Iraq and Syria. And the recent wave of bombings is out of the very first page in the group’s playbook, back when the Islamic State was Al Qaeda in Iraq. But this is not the group’s final death throes — not yet.