The bloody unrest, which began last Tuesday with deadly clashes between security forces and armed rebels in north of Iraq, has raised fears of a return to an all-out sectarian conflict.

In the deadliest attack on Monday, two car bombs exploded in Amara in south Iraq, killing seven people and wounding 45, a senior police officer and a doctor said.

Three other car bombs blew up in Mahmudiyah, Karbala and Diwaniyah, leaving nine people killed, police and medics said, adding that the five bombings also left 100 people wounded.

The latest wave of violence began as security forces clashed with armed rebels near the northern town of Hawijah, killing 53 people.

At the first days of the unrest, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned of attempts to return Iraq to "sectarian civil war".

He called on everyone worried about Iraq's future "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war."

The current violence in the county, he said, “is an intrigue plotted for Iraq, so we call on the politicians to confront this plot by consolidating brotherhood among them and avoid harming their country.”