The deadliest of the bombings on Sunday occurred  in the predominantly Shia district of Bayaa in Baghdad when a bomb in a parked car detonated near automobile workshops, killing seven and wounding 14, according to police sources.

Violence in Iraq is at its highest level in the past five years as the capital has been targeted almost daily. According to United Nations figures, over 8,000 people have been killed in such terror attacks so far this year.

Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, widely believed to be backed by Saudi Arabia, have claimed responsibility for several major bombings in Iraq this year.

The last large set of bombings occurred on November 21 north of the capital. Since then, there has been a steady flow of smaller bombings.

No group immediately has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombings but al Qaeda has expanded its terrorist operations across Iraq since the escalation of the foreign-backed insurgency crisis in neighboring Syria.

At least 94 people were reported wounded in Sunday's attacks. In one incident, a car bomb exploded in a busy square in central Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 15, police said.

In Radhwaniya, a predominantly Sunni area in the capital, a roadside bomb killed two people and wounded eight, police said.

There were also other attacks in Baghdad's mainly Shia districts of Amel, Ghadir, Sadr City and Hussainiya.

In Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a bomb in a parked car blew up inside a market killing two people and wounding seven, police said.

MB/MB