Thirty-one people were killed and 40 injured in a series of bomb blasts in the east-central Iraqi city of Baquba Wednesday.
With just four days left for the country's crucial parliamentary elections, rising violence adds to tension if the political process could be successfully conducted.
Two car bombs exploded within minutes near a police checkpoint and the headquarters of the Diyala provincial government at around 09:30 a.m. local time.
In a pre-meditated attack, a suicide-bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body outside the city's main hospital as ambulances arrived carrying the casualties from the previous blasts, reports quoting police said.
The incidents prompted the authorities to impose curfew in the province and close main roads at the entrances to big towns to try to prevent more attacks.
This is the eighth incident of coordinated terrorist attacks in the country since last August.
Iraq is poised for historic parliamentary elections Sunday. The successful and peaceful completion of the polls is crucial to strengthening Iraqi democracy and US plans for an early pullout by September.
Baquba, about 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala province, bordering Iran. The province witnessed frequent attacks against Iranian pilgrims visiting Iraq, and of an uneasy standoff between Kurdish militias in the north of the province and Iraq's government forces.
Despite a fall in violence in Iraq since last year, a number of recent blasts have raised fears that sustained violence is returning to the country, aimed at destabilizing the government.
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