A slew of bomb attacks killed about 50 people in the Iraqi capital and a village in the north of the country on Wednesday, according to hospital and police sources cited by Reuters.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the strikes, but groups - mainly a branch of al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim militants - often target civilians as well as Shiites and Iraqi security forces.
In the deadliest incident, a bomb blew up mourners at a funeral for a pro-government Sunni Muslim militiamen who died two days ago, police said. It killed 18 people and wounded 16 in Shatub, a village south of Baquba, Reuters reported.
Car bombs exploded across Baghdad, mostly in Shiite districts, killing 34 and wounding 71.
Sunni militants took over the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad two weeks ago, in a direct challenge to the rule of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Two years after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, violence has reached levels seen in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of people died.
Reuters and The Associated Press
