BAGHDAD: A series of car bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital, two of them targeting Iranian pilgrims, killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 80 others, Interior Ministry and police sources said.

Militants blew up a car bomb in front of a house used by Iranians as a rest stop in the Kadhamiya district of Baghdad, as well as explosives planted in an adjacent house, an Interior Ministry source said.

The explosions killed five people, wounded 18 and severely damaged the two houses, the source said.

In Baghdad's northern Shula district, a car bomb exploded near a bus carrying Iranians, killing two people and wounding 28, the source said.

A police source said seven were killed and 45 wounded in total in the two incidents.

A third car bomb blast struck a market in Baghdad's southwestern Bayaa district, killing six people and wounding 41 others, the ministry source said.

Baghdad's northern Kadhamiya area hosts the golden-domed shrine for Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a medieval Shia holy man.

During a pilgrimage in 2005, rumours of a bombing on the Bridge of the Imams, which leads to the shrine, touched off a stampede that killed 1,000 people.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranian religious tourists have visited Shia holy sites in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.