Two bombings in a Shiite-majority area of north Baghdad and other attacks killed at least 35 people today, officials said, as Iraq struggles with its worst violence in years.
The government has failed to curb a year-long surge in violence that has reached levels not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a4 brutal period of sectarian killings in which tens of thousands died.
In the deadliest attack today, an explosives-rigged motorcycle ripped through an area of motorcycle shops in the Shiite-majority Sadr City district of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding 45.
And a car bomb in Sadr City killed at least one person and wounded five.
Sunni extremists frequently target members of Iraq's Shiite majority, who they consider apostates.
The capital is hit by near-daily bombings and shootings, including periodic coordinated vehicle bomb attacks that leave dozens of people dead.
In Mishahada, north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near an army patrol, killing at least two soldiers and wounding three. Other attacks hit areas in northern Iraq.
A roadside bomb exploded near a Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda militia patrol in the Sharqat area, killing two fighters and wounding four, while a roadside bomb near a police station in Tuz Khurmatu killed two people and wounded 15.
And three soldiers died in clashes with militants in Kirkuk province.
Security forces are often targeted by militants opposed to the Iraqi government. The latest deaths came after violence killed 13 people yesterday.
Militants in Iraq have been bolstered by widespread discontent among members of the country's Sunni Arab minority, who say they are marginalised and unfairly targeted with heavy-handed security measures, and by the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria.
In a sign of the reach of militants and the weakness of security forces, the city of Fallujah -- just a short drive from Baghdad -- and shifting parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, to its west, have been held by anti-government fighters since early January.
Nationwide, violence has killed more than 710 people since the beginning of the month, and over 1,700 so far this year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
