At least 29 people were killed Monday in a series of bombings across Iraq, where tensions between Sunni protesters and the Shiite-dominated government are on the rise, dpa reported.
Most of the attacks occurred in Shiite communities.
One car bomb exploded at a market, while the other went off near a crowd of workers in Amara, 400 kilometres south-east of Baghdad. Medics and witnesses said 16 people were killed and 25 injured.
In Diwaniyah, 150 kilometres south of Baghdad, four people were killed and 33 injured when a booby trapped car exploded. The blast damaged buildings.
Five people were killed in a car bomb blast near a restaurant in the city of Karbala, security sources said. Another car bomb exploded at a police station. Media reports gave no details of casualties.
In the ethnically mixed northern city of Mosul gunmen attacked an army checkpoint, killing two soldiers before fleeing.
Two soldiers were also killed in the Sunni-dominated city of Tikrit. Two soldiers were injured when the army checkpoint came under rocket-propelled grenade and machine gun fire.
Attacks in recent months has raised fears of a return to the level of sectarian violence that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.
Iraq's Sunni minority has for months been staging mass protests to demand a repeal of laws they say the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is using to target them.
The death of 53 people in a standoff between the army and protesters in northern Kirkuk last week triggered further clashes between protesters and security forces in other parts of the country.
The government later revoked the licences of 10 television broadcasters, including the Doha-based Al Jazeera, over what it said was unprofessional and biased coverage of the standoff.