Baghdad blasts kill 14, including pilgrims

The largest of three blasts, from a parked car bomb in the Saydiya district of southern Baghdad, has killed 11 and wounded 30, sources said.

A traffic policeman grieves while security forces prepare to tow away a destroyed car at the scene of a parked car bomb in Baghdad Source: AAP

Three bombs that exploded in and around Baghdad have killed at least 14 people, including Shi'ite worshippers on an annual pilgrimage to the capital.

The largest blast, from a parked car bomb in the Saydiya district of southern Baghdad, killed 11 and wounded 30, sources said.

At least a few of the casualties were pilgrims passing through the area on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammed.

Explosives planted on the ground in Tarmiya, 25km north of Baghdad, killed two and wounded six, while a roadside bomb in Khalisa, a town 30km south of the city, left one dead and two wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the attacks, but Islamic State militants fighting Iraqi forces in the north and west regularly target security personnel and Shi'ite civilians whom they consider apostates.

Islamic State's al Qaeda predecessor was blamed in the past for such attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims, including blasts in 2012 that left 70 people dead nationwide.

Security has gradually improved in Baghdad, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but there has been a string of blasts in recent days, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed at least 19 people.