A wave of bombings and shootings in central Iraq during a major Shiite religious commemoration killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, security and medical officials said.
Two car bombs in the central Iraq city of Hilla killed 19 people, a police captain and a doctor said.
Security and medical officials said at least 12 people died in a spate of nine bombings and two shootings in the Baghdad area, which also left dozens of people wounded.
In the city of Baquba, capital of Diyala province, nine roadside bombs, a car bomb and a shooting killed five people and wounded 15 others, according to a police colonel and a medic.
In Balad, north of Baghdad, four people were killed and 24 wounded in two car bombs, a police lieutenant colonel said. The toll was confirmed by a local government official.
And a car bomb in Al-Azizyah, south of Baghdad, killed two people and wounded at least two others, a police captain and a medical source said.
