At least 49 people have been killed and over 100 wounded in a series of bomb blasts in the capital Baghdad and the city of Hilla in central Iraq, police and medics said.

Several explosions rocked mainly Shiite districts in Baghdad on Tuesday killing 14 people. The deadliest attack took place in the district of Bayaa, when a bomb inside a parked vehicle exploded near a bus station, killing five and wounding 24, Reuters said citing sources. Explosions also hit the Amil, Ilam and Shurta districts.

Further 35 people were killed and 90 more were injured in central Iraq, when three car bombs went off in different locations in the city of Hilla and four more in nearby towns, located 100 km south of Baghdad.

"Hilla hospital has received 35 bodies so far from seven car bomb blasts," said one health official.

No group has yet taken the responsibility for the attacks. Shiites are often targeted by Sunni Muslim militants in Iraq. On Monday at least 24 people were killed in similar explosions in Baghdad. Several bombs went off near two Shiite Muslim mosques and at a busy bus station.

(Google map)

The Iraqi army was fighting Sunni militants in the town of Sulaiman Pek on Monday. The insurgents took over parts of the northern town on Thursday raising the flag of the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq and war-torn Syria.

Violence in Iraq has been on the rise over the past year, with almost 9,000 people killed in 2013 which became the bloodiest year for Iraq since 2008, according to UN estimates.

• A Permanent Economic Emergency