Bomb blasts kill 37 people in Iraq

In a series of attacks in and around Iraq's capital, 37 people have been killed.

In a series of attacks in and around Iraq's capital, 37 people have been killed. (AAP)

A series of attacks targeting public places and Shi'ite militia checkpoints in and north of Iraq's capital have killed 37 people.

The first bombs on Saturday exploded near the market in the town of Balad Ruz, 70 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding 50, police and hospital officials said.

Two suicide car bombers later attacked checkpoints manned by Shi'ite militiamen near the city of Samarra, killing 16 Shi'ite fighters and wounding 31, authorities said.

Samarra and surrounding areas have been under constant attacks by the Islamic State group, which holds about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.

Clashes between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants followed the attack around Samarra, 95 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Saturday night, police said a bomb killed four people in western Baghdad, while another in Baghdad's neighbourhood of Abu Dashir killed three people and wounded eight.

Four mortar shells also hit homes in Sabaa al-Bour, just north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding six, police said.

Iraq's Interior Ministry later said Iraqi border guards repelled an attack by Islamic State militants on a post on the Iraqi-Saudi border, saying several militants were killed.