Another six people were shot dead in an ambush north of Baghdad drawing condemnation from the United Nations. Security officials said a suicide bomber blew himself up as he was being frisked outside the Al-Rassol mosque in Jadida, a Shiite district of southern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 30.

In the second attack, a bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into an Iraqi armoured vehicle at a checkpoint near a mosque in the nearby district of Zafaraniyah. The blast killed eight people, including four Iraqi soldiers, and wounded 10 worshippers.

UN envoy to Iraq Staffan de Mistura strongly condemned the series of "criminal bombings" and described the attacks as "particularly abhorrent."

He said the violence was aimed at men, women and children as they prepared to break their fast and celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, or while they were on their way on pilgrimage.