Three bombs killed 23 Iraqis and injured dozens of others in Baghdad today.
Two bombs exploded shortly after 10 am local time opposite a park in the South Gate area, killing nine civilians and wounding 43, a police officer said.
South Gate is often crowded with commuters and shoppers.
In eastern Baghdad, a bomb planted under a car killed 12 civilians and wounded 26 others near al-Sha'ab stadium, police said.
The bomb exploded among a group of people lining up to buy kerosene.
And another blast targeted a police patrol in western Baghdad but missed its target, instead killing two civilians. Four others were wounded and taken to Yarmouk Hospital.
Bomb attacks, mortars and death squad executions are killing an average of more than 100 people a day in Iraq , according to UN figures, as sectarian tensions threaten to pitch the country into full-scale civil war.
Meanwhile, the US military said three US soldiers died in roadside bombings yesterday. Two soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their foot patrol south-west of Baghdad, and one died in a bombing in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital.
The US also claimed that an al Qaeda cell leader was captured by Iraqi forces backed by US troops south of Baghdad on Tuesday.
The suspect is believed to be responsible for kidnapping two American soldiers from a checkpoint in June. The soldiers were later found tortured and murdered.
Agencies