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The BBC's Jim Muir says the attacks were clearly co-ordinated
At least 48 people have been killed following a series of car bombs mainly targeting Shia areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials say.
More than 150 people were injured, police sources told the BBC.
The attacks came on the 10th anniversary of the US-led campaign in Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Violence in Iraq has declined from a 2006-7 peak, but a Sunni insurgency goes on, with on average more than 300 people dead a month.
Iraq's cabinet said that because of the security situation, it was delaying elections scheduled for 20 April in two provinces by up to six months.
On Tuesday, a total of at least 10 car bombs were set off, in what was clearly a co-ordinated campaign, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Baghdad.
Ten years on from the start of the campaign that overthrew Saddam Hussein and destroyed the country's military, security and political structures, Iraq's future as a unified state is hanging in the balance.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is sharply at odds with the Kurds, who have their own autonomous region in the north. Sunni areas in the west of the country are in revolt against Mr Maliki's government.
The prime minister, who's from the majority Shia community, is nearing the end of his second term. Parliament has ruled that leaders can only have two terms of office, but Mr Maliki is clearly determined to stay in power, and is counting on the courts to overrule parliament. His opponents, who accuse him of dictatorial tendencies, insist there can be no solution to the current crisis while he's still there.
The first attacks came during the morning rush hour, with bombs set off near busy areas including a market, bus stops, a queues of people hoping to pick up work for the day.
Later, BBC reporters heard a further explosion, and saw a plume of black smoke was seen over the capital, while police reported further bombings.
Districts across Baghdad were hit by car bombs and an explosive device stuck to a vehicle, while to the south a suicide bomber and further car bombs hit Eskandria in the Shia-dominated Babylon province, officials said.
Police also said three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been set off and guns fired in the northern region of Kirkuk.
The attacks came amid heightened security in Baghdad, including newly formed checkpoints, Agence France-Presse reported.
No-one has said they carried out the attacks, though the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq, has launched a number of high-profile bombings this year.
Sunni militants have frequently targeted civilians and state officials as they seek to destabilise the country and weaken the Shia-led government of Nouri al-Maliki.
Iraqis, who are in the midst of a political crisis, do not generally mark the anniversary of the US-led invasion.
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