BAQUBA, Iraq: Two bombs near a Sunni mosque and another targeting a Sunni funeral procession killed 49 people in Iraq on Friday, officials said, after two days of attacks against Shiites that killed dozens.
The surge in violence raises the spectre of tit-for-tat killings common during the height of sectarian bloodletting in Iraq that killed tens of thousands of people, and comes at a time of simmering tension between the country's Sunni minority and Shiite majority.
One bomb exploded as worshippers were departing the Saria mosque in the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, while a second detonated after people gathered at the scene of the first blast, killing a total of 41 people and wounding 57, police and a doctor said.
"Authorities should stop these daily explosions and car bombs against innocent people," Abbas al-Zaidi, 47, said near the scene of the blasts.
Omar Mohammed, 35, said the government itself was behind the violence.
"It is the politicians and the government who target us with roadside bombs and car bombs, not armed groups," he said.
Security forces cordoned off the scene of the explosions and the main hospital in Baquba, an AFP journalist said.
A string of ambulances carried victims from the scene of the blasts to the hospital, and police and soldiers also helped transport the wounded and dead.
In Madain, south of Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a funeral procession for a Sunni man, killing eight people and wounding at least 25 others, security and medical officials said.
And in the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen killed a government employee and one of his relatives, police and a doctor said.
Security forces and other government employees are often targeted by militant groups in Iraq.
With the latest attacks, 240 people have been killed in violence so far in May, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
The bombings near the mosque are the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted both Sunni and Shiite places of worship in the past few weeks, and come after two days of attacks targeting Shiites.
On Thursday, a suicide bomber killed 12 people at the entrance of Al-Zahraa husseiniyah, a Shiite place of worship in Kirkuk, where relatives of victims from violence the day before were receiving condolences.
Car bombs hit three Shiite-majority areas of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 10 people, while 21 people died in a series of bombings that mainly hit Shiite areas of the capital the previous day.
Gunmen also shot dead the brother of a Sunni MP in Baghdad on Thursday.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed the violence plaguing Iraq on religious intolerance.
"The bloodshed... is a result of sectarian hatred," Maliki said. "These crimes are a natural result of the sectarian mindset."
Tensions are festering between the government of Maliki, a Shiite, and members of the Sunni minority who accuse authorities of targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.
Protests broke out in Sunni areas of Iraq almost five months ago.
While the government has made some concessions, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda fighters, underlying issues have not been addressed.
On April 23, security forces moved on protesters near the town of Hawijah in Kirkuk province, sparking clashes that killed 53 people.
Dozens more died in subsequent unrest that included revenge attacks on security forces, raising fears of a return to the all-out sectarian conflict that ravaged Iraq from 2006 to 2008.
Violence has fallen from those peaks but attacks are still common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first five months of this year, according to AFP figures. (AFP)
