At least 29 people were killed on Wednesday, most of them in a Baghdad car bomb attack, a day after multiple bombings in Iraq left 64 dead and revived fears of civil war.
Bombers struck again in Baghdad's multiconfessional south-eastern neighbourhood of Jadid at about midday, killing 23 and wounding 58 by blowing up a car on the main road, which also housed a market.
Six others were killed in separate bombings and shootings across Iraq on Wednesday, leaving a total of 29 dead by afternoon. At least 78 were wounded in all these attacks.
The upsurge in violence reinforced fears of a return to the intercommunal bloodletting that followed the bombing of a Shiite shrine last week that left hundreds dead and threatened to bring the formation of a new government to a halt.