At least 40 people have been killed in a series of explosions around Baghdad today.
More than ten car bombs and roadside bombs exploded, some outside cafes, in the early evening in several mainly Shia areas of the city, officials said. It is thought that more than 320 people have been injured.
Forty people have been killed and 320 wounded, Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi told Iraqiya state television.
"Ten cars exploded with bombs inside them. There were also four roadside bombs and two sticky bombs," Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said. "(They were) all in Shia neighbourhoods."
One of the biggest explosions appeared to target restaurants and cafes in the Shia slum of Sadr City. A police source in the area said 15 people had been killed and another 23 wounded.
Violence has subsided significantly in Iraq since the height of sectarian bloodshed in 2006-07 but attacks by Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and Shia militia continue daily
Agencies