At least 49 people were killed on Tuesday in a spike in bombings in mainly-Shia areas of Iraq’s capital Baghdad and the southern city of Hilla.
At least 35 people were killed and 90 injured in seven explosions in Hilla, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, and the nearby towns of Haswa, Mahaweel, and Mussayab.
Fourteen people were killed in Baghdad in four blasts, including a bomb inside a parked vehicle near a bus station.
Last year’s death toll in Iraq was the worst since 2008.