BAGHDAD — Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq on Friday, killing at least 36 people and wounding nearly 100 in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged mass anti-government protests in a sign of mounting sectarian tensions.



Tens of thousands of Sunni protesters rallied in five major cities against Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, a Shiite accused of monopolizing power. Sunnis also complain of official discrimination.



Sunni protest leaders have rejected a recent call by an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq to take up arms against the government, but there is concern militants are trying to exploit the discontent.



In the city of Samarra, rally speaker Sheik Mohammed Jumaa sent a warning to the prime minister. "Stop tyranny and oppression," he said. "We want our rights. You will witness what other tyrants have witnessed before you."

In the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the western Anbar province, demonstrators blocked the main highway to Jordan and performed Friday noon prayers, the highlight of the religious week. Anbar province is a former Al-Qaeda stronghold that saw fierce fighting against US forces in the Iraq war.

Other rallies were held in the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as part of weekly Sunni demonstrations that were sparked by the December arrests of bodyguards of a senior Sunni politician.

Earlier, suspected Sunni insurgents detonated five car bombs, killing at least 37 people and wounding 97, health and police officials said.



Friday’s bombings targeted an outdoor pet market in Baghdad’s northern Kazimyah neighborhood, a vegetable market in the town of Shomali in Hillah province, south of the Iraqi capital, and a stand for taxi vans on the edge of the southern city of Karbala.



The assailants targeted particularly crowded areas. Iraqis converge on markets every Friday, the Muslim day of rest, to shop and spend family time.



In Baghdad, the first car bomb exploded around mid-morning at the entrance to the Kazimyah market. When panicked shoppers tried to flee the area, a second parked car exploded a few yards away. — AP