BAGHDAD – A series of car bombs in Iraq killed at least 17 people Friday, the latest in a spike in unrest ahead of Iraq’s first polls since 2010.



The blasts, which also wounded 105 people, struck within an hour of each other in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Binook, Qahira, Zafraniyah and Jihad, as well as in an area of southern Kirkuk city.



In Baghdad, four car bombs were detonated in the east and west of the capital, leaving at least 14 people dead and 35 wounded, security and medical officials said.



And in Kirkuk, which lies 240 km north of the capital, three people died and 70 were hurt by another car bomb, provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul said.



The attacks come amid a spike in violence nationwide as the country prepares for its first elections in three years – provincial polls that will be held in 12 of Iraq’s 18 provinces on April 20.



Questions have been raised over the credibility of those polls as elections have been postponed in two provinces roiled by months of protests, and at least 11 candidates have been killed. The polls are seen as a key barometer of support for Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki as he grapples with criticism from within his unity Cabinet and months of protests in the minority Sunni Arab community.



And the attack in Kirkuk is also likely to raise tensions in a city at the heart of a long-running dispute over territory between the central government in Baghdad and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region.



The dispute is often cited by officials and diplomats as the biggest long-term threat to Iraq’s stability.



Violence is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007 but attacks remain common, and this month’s death toll of 256 is already the highest since August.

The latest violence comes days after the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and had sought to establish a stable, democratic ally in his place but instead unleashed brutal violence and endless political disputes. – AFP