A series of co-ordinated bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed more than 50 people and wounded dozens more, police and medical sources say.
The bombs targeted mainly Shia neighbourhoods during the rush hour.
The deadliest explosion on Wednesday was reported to be in Jisr Diyala in south-eastern Baghdad, where a car bomb killed at least seven people.
Violence has increased in Iraq in recent months amid heightened tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Several blasts in the northern district of Kadhimiya killed at least five people and wounded many others, according to reports. A northern suburb or Sadr City was also attacked.
Sunnis say they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led government.
Correspondents say deep-rooted sectarian tensions have also been aggravated by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Casualty figures released by the United Nations showed 1,057 Iraqis - most of them civilians - were killed in July, making it the deadliest month in the country for years.More than 4,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 more have been wounded so far this year, with Baghdad province worst hit.
The authorities have stepped up security operations in Baghdad, according to BBC World Service Middle East Editor Sebastian Usher. But they seem unable to stop the growing intensity of violence now back to a level not seen for five years, he says.
Barely a day goes by in Iraq now without similar bloodshed, our correspondent adds.
The scale of bloodshed peaked in Iraq at the height of the insurgency in 2006-7.
The latest wave of attacks reportedly saw a number of blasts - many of them car bombs - go off in car parks and shopping streets.
No group has admitted carrying out the bombings, but correspondents say appear to have been carried out by Sunni militants.
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