BAGHDAD: A wave of car bombs struck Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad on Monday morning, killing at least 51 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the latest in relentless violence roiling Iraq in recent months.

The deadliest of the day's bombings was in the eastern Sadr City district, where a parked car bomb tore through a small vegetable market and its parking lot, killing seven people and wounding 16, a police officer said. That was followed by 10 parked car bombs, which went off in quick sequence in the neighbourhoods of New Baghdad, Habibiya, Sabaa al-Bour Kazimiyah, Shaab, Ur, Shula as well as the Sunni neighbourhoods of Jamiaa and Ghazaliyah — all striking outdoor markets or parking lots.

Those attacks killed a total of 144 civilians and wounded 139, according to police officers. Medical officials confirmed the causality figures in Monday's attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraqi militants often target crowded places such as markets, cafes and mosques, seeking to inflict huge numbers of casualties.

Attacks in different parts of Iraq — including two suicide bombings in the country's relatively peaceful northern Kurdish region — killed 46 people on Sunday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attacks but they bear the hallmarks of al-Qaida's local branch in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq.

''Our war with terrorism goes on,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan said. ''Part of the problem is the political infighting and regional conflicts ... There are shortcomings and we need to develop our capabilities mainly in the intelligence-gathering efforts.''

Al Qaeda is believed to be trying to build on the Sunni minority's discontent toward what they consider to be second-class treatment by Iraq's Shiite-led government. Violence in Iraq surged after government troops moved against a protest camp of Sunni demonstrators in April, triggering deadly clashes nationwide.

More than 4,500 people have been killed since April.