Thirty people have been killed and 38 wounded in a car bomb explosion at a market in a predominantly Shi'ite suburb south of Baghdad.
The attack occurred in the district of Nahrawan 45km from the capital, at around 7pm local time.
More than 200 people have been killed in bombings and shootings in and near Baghdad this week, including at least 114 in a single suicide bomb on Wednesday.
In other violence, two Sudanese truck drivers ferrying supplies to US forces were killed in west Baghdad and 11 bodies - handcuffed, blindfolded and shot at close range - were found at various locations.
Earlier in the day, another car bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding 17.
And a Shi'ite cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Khatab, was shot dead in a market in the predominantly Sunni town of Baiji, 200km north of Baghdad.
Iraq's Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government, backed by the United States, faces a Sunni Arab revolt that has intensified ahead of a 15 October referendum on a new constitution.
Sunni Arabs, the dominant community under ousted leader Saddam Hussein, fear they will lose influence under the new charter and many have vowed to reject it.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest attacks in the country, this week proclaimed all-out war on majority Shi'ites.
