At least 21 people were martyred on Monday evening as a wave of car and roadside bombs hit Baghdad province, while eight anti-Qaeda militiamen were also killed in other attacks.

At least 21 people were martyred on Monday evening as a wave of car and roadside bombs hit Baghdad province, while eight anti-Qaeda militiamen were also killed in other attacks.

Officials said eight car bombs and two roadside bombs exploded in eight areas in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 21 people and wounding at least 98.

AFP journalists heard one of the blasts in central Baghdad, followed by emergency vehicle sirens.

The attacks came a day after two bombings in the capital, including a suicide attack against pilgrims, killed 14 people.

Meanwhile, other attacks targeted Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen on Monday, killing eight.

North of Baghdad, two roadside bombs killed four Sahwa fighters and wounded five, while another south of the capital killed two Sahwa and wounded six people, among them four Sahwa fighters.

And south of the city of Fallujah, which is located west of Baghdad, a bombing against an army patrol followed by an attack by gunmen on a checkpoint killed two soldiers and wounded six.

Commenting on the latest violence, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that "what Iraq is being exposed to is a big conspiracy that aims to create strife and sectarianism among the sons of one society".
He also said there was a plan to move Syria's bloody civil war to Iraq.

Violence worsened sharply with more than 200 people have been killed so far this month, and over 4,900 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.