BAGHDAD, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- At least 30 people died Sunday in Iraq in a wave of bombings that appeared to be targeted at the country's Shiite Muslim population, officials said.
CNN reported 20 people died and dozens were injured in seven explosions in and around Baghdad, including the nearby city of Taji.
Four people were killed and 19 were injured in a car bomb explosion near a Shiite shrine in al-Madaan. Four Iranians were among the injured, police told CNN.
Six people were killed and 10 were wounded in the city of Kut, 68 miles south of Baghdad, when a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint.
CNN said the violence comes days after dozens of prisoners escaped from a jail in the northern city of Tikrit. Several al-Qaida members were among those who escaped Thursday, officials said.
Sectarian violence has been mounting since July between Sunni Muslims, Shiites and Kurds in the north, and domestic security forces have been struggling since the U.S. military withdrawal in December, CNN said.
The most recent bloodbath was Sept. 9, when bombs and shootings killed 63 people and injured more than 200 across the country.
The Iraqi government, which is predominantly Shiite-led, blames most of the violence on Sunnis with al-Qaida affiliation.
