New wave of Iraq violence kills 70

BAGHDAD: A wave of violence killed at least 70 people on Monday, shattering hopes that tensions had been eased by a recent series of symbolic political gestures.

The attacks, which left more than 230 people wounded, are the latest in a surge in bloodshed that, coupled with a long-running political paralysis, has stoked fears of a revival of the all-out sectarian war that blighted Iraq in 2006 and 2007.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bloodshed.

Monday's deadliest violence struck the city of Mosul, with a series of five car bombings mostly targeting security forces leaving at least 29 dead and 80 others wounded, officials said.

"We have received many corpses," said Anwar al-Juburi, a doctor at Mosul General Hospital.

"Most of them were members of the security forces."

Authorities declared a curfew in the northern city in the aftermath of the violence.

Attacks near Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Owja, the town of Dour and in Taji meanwhile left a further 13 people dead.

Ten more people were killed in violence in the northern province of Kirkuk and the nearby towns of Tuz Khurmatu and Suleiman Bek.

Blasts in the mixed town of Madain neighbourhood of Baghdad killed five more people.

Earlier on Monday, two car bombs and a suicide attack -- all of which went off almost simultaneously -- in a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in the town of Judaida al-Shat in restive Diyala province killed 13 people.

The UN envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler has warned the violence is "ready to explode".

In a bid to ease tensions, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has in recent days met with two of his arch rivals -- the speaker of parliament and the president of the autonomous Kurdish region.

While the country's top politicians have pledged to address persistent political disputes, no tangible moves have yet been announced.