Three explosions in Baghdad, including a car bomb opposite the foreign ministry, have killed 19 people.
The attacks, which wounded dozens more, came as security forces battled militants in the western Anbar province, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a powerful jihadist group that has exploited the chaos in neighbouring Syria.
With violence at its highest level since 2008, diplomats have urged the Shi'ite-led government to reach out to Sunnis in order to undercut support for militancy.
However, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line ahead of April's parliamentary elections.
The Wednesday bombings, including a suicide attack, ripped through confessionally-mixed areas of the Iraqi capital during morning peak hour, killing at least 19 people and leaving 30 others wounded, security officials and a medical source said.
Among the attacks was a car bomb just opposite the foreign ministry on the edge of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, home to parliament and the US embassy.
A suicide bomber hit a restaurant, while a vehicle rigged with explosives was detonated in a market for car spare parts.
Blood and pieces of flesh littered the scene at the restaurant attack. Soldiers said one of their comrades had wrapped his arms around the bomber in a bid to save others.
The toll could have been higher still, but security forces managed to defuse a roadside bomb near the oil ministry in central Baghdad.
No group immediately claimed responsibility but Sunni militant groups including ISIL have in the past taken credit for co-ordinated bombing campaigns in Baghdad.
ISIL has also been involved in fighting security forces in Anbar province, a mostly Sunni desert region bordering Syria where militants have for weeks held parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, which lies on Baghdad's doorstep.
Along with ISIL, other militant groups and anti-government tribes have fought forces loyal to the central government.
