Eight car bomb blasts in mainly Shi’ite districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killed at least 20 people on Monday, police and medics said. Earlier, at least 10 people were killed in two car bomb explosions in the predominantly Shi’ite southern city of Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
Others are reported to have been injured in the attacks near a bus station and a restaurant.
Attacks in Basra, a mainly Shia Muslim city, are relatively rare compared with other parts of the country.
But in March a car bomb in the city killed 10 and wounded many others. On Saturday gunmen shot and killed a Sunni Muslim cleric.
The latest attacks follow a rise in violence in recent weeks in Iraq linked to growing political and sectarian tension between the Sunni and Shia Muslim communities.
At least 10 policemen were reported killed on Sunday in north-western Iraq in attacks blamed by the authorities on Sunni militants.