In Iraq's bloodiest day for months, twin suicide bombers struck the restive Sunni city of Ramadi and the Shiite holy city of Karbala, while a roadside bomb hit a US military patrol.
More that 200 people were also wounded in the onslaught, which politicians said was meant to impede the setting up a government of national unity.
"It's an odious crime which shows the savagery and sectarianism of these criminals," said Jawad al-Maliki, a top leader from Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's Dawa party, speaking of the attack in Karbala.
Situated about 110 kilometres south of Baghdad, Karbala is one of Iraq's holiest cities containing landmark Shiite shrines and mosques.
Post election violence
"They are trying to change the results through terror," he said in a veiled reference to complaints by Sunni-based parties of ballot-rigging in the poll.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, however said the bombings would not affect attempts to put together a government of national unity.
"Those who think such terrorist attacks will influence the political play are wrong," he said.
In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber wired with explosives killed at least 67 people and injured more than 100 when he blew himself up outside a police recruitment centre in the western Sunni dominated city of Ramadi.
Less than an hour earlier, another suicide bomber detonated his charge in the middle of a busy market area in Karbala next to the Iman Hussein shrine, killing at least 44, mainly vendors and pilgrims, and wounding 85 others.
Ambulances rushed to ferry away the dead and wounded in an all-too familiar scene of carnage. A number of Iranian pilgrims were among the victims.
Karbala has been relatively quiet for the past year but the peace was shattered on Wednesday when a car bomb exploded in the city, wounding two people.
Adding to Thursday's mayhem, five US soldiers died when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle while on patrol south of Karbala, the US military said.
The latest casualties took the death toll for the US military personnel in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to at least 2,186, according to an AFP toll based on figures from the Pentagon.
Three car bombs, two of them driven by suicide bombers, also exploded in Baghdad, but only left one policeman and two Iraqi soldiers injured.
In other violence, four policemen were killed and four wounded when rebels attacked two patrols with small arms fire just outside Baquba, 60 kilometres northwest of Baghdad.
Political fallout
The spike in unrest came as Iraq awaited the final results of elections on December 15 after the electoral commission earlier indicated that Shiite-based religious parties and their Kurdish allies would be returned to power.
US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair want Iraq to form a new government as quickly as possible.
They believe this would improve security and stability on the ground and ultimately enable them to start withdrawing their troops later this year.
Abdul Hussein al-Hindawi, a member of the Iraqi electoral commission, said a complete list of preliminary election results will be announced by Monday.
But he said it would take up to another fortnight before the results are fully certified with all the names of the new members of parliament.
As for the work of independent foreign monitors sent to Iraq to review the election, it will continue separately to the commission's timetable.
The International Mission for Iraqi Elections is due to publish its findings of a review into the complaints within three weeks, but Mr Hindawi said there was "no need" for the commission to wait until then before making its announcement.
But a spokesman for a group of 50 parties and personalities that have complained of election fraud said any announcement by the commission before the independent monitors finish their work would be illegal and irrational.
"We are against all announcements of the final, uncertified results before the experts finish their work, in order to safeguard the legality of the process," said Ali al-Tamini, a spokesman for the so-called Maram group.
He said any election-related release beforehand "would consolidate our doubt about the honesty of the commission."