Iraq witnessed another day of violence on Monday as multiple bomb blasts hit the country's Shi'ite provinces, killing at least 18 people.<br/> <br />Two blasts struck Amara, 300 km southeast of Baghdad, leaving at least nine dead and wounding 40.<br/> <br />The first explosion ripped through a market, while the second hit an area where labourers were gathering to look for daily work.<br/> <br />Another car bomb exploded in a market in Diwaniya, killing two people, police said.<br/> <br />This man, clearly in shock, described seeing at least four fatalities in the aftermath of the attack.<br/> <br />Separate blasts struck a busy market in Kerbala and a Shi'ite worship site in Mahmudiya, killing at least seven.<br/> <br />No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but car and suicide bombings are trademarks of al-Qaeda's Iraq wing.<br/> <br />Violence in Iraq has been on the increase as the civil war in neighbouring Syria puts further strains on already fragile Sunni-Shi'ite relations.
