Deadly car bombings strike Iraq

In one attack, a car packed with explosives exploded near an army checkpoint in the town of Mahmoudiya, south of the capital, killing five.

Shortly after, a car bomb was detonated in the northern Baghdad suburb of Taji, claiming six lives, officials said.

Another bomb in a mostly Shia district in north Baghdad killed at least five.

A series of suicide attacks across Iraq last week left at least 30 people dead.

No-one has admitted carrying out the latest attacks but Sunni insurgents have been blamed for recent violence in Iraq, Kazinform quotes BBC News.

Two soldiers were among those killed in Mahmoudiya, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, officials said. At least 14 other people were wounded.

The attack in Taji happened near an army base, reports said. More than 20 people were reported to have been injured.

The third car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Shula district of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

Relations between Iraq's Sunni community and Shia-dominated government have become increasingly strained.

Although sectarian violence has decreased in Iraq since the height of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common.