Car bombers in Baghdad and northern Iraq today killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 40.
Four of the attacks were in or near the northern town of Hawija, close to the strategic oil city of Kirkuk.
One suicide bomber blew up his car near a US base, another beside an Iraqi army checkpoint and a third close to a market, police said. A fourth car bomb struck a checkpoint in the town of Abasi, near Hawija.
In total, 19 people were killed and 38 wounded in the four attacks, the Iraqi army commander in Kirkuk said.
In Baghdad, a car bomb detonated alongside a police patrol, wounding nine people, including two policemen.
Since April 28th, when Iraq's new Shia led cabinet was announced, insurgents have sharply escalated attacks, killing more than 800 Iraqis and 88 US troops. May was the deadliest month for US forces since January.
The violence has worsened sectarian tensions in Iraq. A series of assassinations of clerics, and mass killings of Iraqis whose bodies were then dumped, has led some Sunni groups to accuse a militia linked to one of Iraq's main Shia parties of involvement in the kidnap and killing of Sunni Arabs.