Bombings kill at least 54 in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Attacks including car bombs in Iraq killed at least 54 people on Monday, officials said, taking the July death toll to more than 790.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources -- a surge in unrest that the Iraqi government has so far failed to stem.

On Monday, 11 car bombs hit nine different areas of Baghdad. Two more car bombs exploded in Kut, while two hit Samawa and another detonated in Basra, all south of Baghdad.

A roadside bomb also killed five policemen, including a lieutenant colonel, north of Tikrit, while a magnetic "sticky bomb" killed a police captain in Anbar province.

The attacks wounded a total of at least 232 people.

One of the Baghdad bombings struck near a place where day labourers wait for work in Sadr City, killing five people and wounding 17.

Debris, including what appeared to be the remains of the vehicle that held the explosives, covered the street around the site of the blast, an AFP journalist reported.

The explosion also caused heavy damage to shops in the area, and the force of the blast smashed a white minibus, throwing it on its side.

The Monday violence came a day after attacks killed 14 people, among them nine Kurdish policemen who died in a suicide bombing in the northern town of Tuz Khurmatu.

Militants have carried out two highly coordinated operations in recent days, highlighting both their growing reach and the rapidly declining security situation. (AFP)