Blasts kill 10, injure 36 in Iraq's Diyala province

A car bomb explodes near an outdoor market in Baquba, killing threeTwo blasts hit Muqdadiya, and seven dieViolence in Iraq hit a nearly two-year peak in July, with 325 deaths reported

Baghdad (CNN) -- Ten people were killed and another 36 injured in bombings Wednesday in Iraq's ethnically mixed Diyala province, authorities said.

A car bomb exploded Wednesday evening near an outdoor market in eastern Baquba, killing three people and wounding nine others, according to police officials in that city about 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) north of Baghdad. The explosion hit shortly before the daily break from fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, in Muqdadiya about 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a busy outdoor market. A few minutes later, when Iraqi security forces arrived to investigate and a number of civilians gathered out of curiosity, another blast hit, police said. Seven people died and 27 were wounded in those incidents, police said.

Diyala, where both cities are located, is an mixed province of Arab Sunni, Arab Shiite, Kurds and Turkmen residents.

The month of Ramadan was a bloody month for Iraqis as al Qaeda in Iraq carried out a number of deadly attacks across the country, targeting mainly Shiite areas.

Last Monday, The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes a number of Sunni extremist organizations and has ties to al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for July 31 attacks that targeted the emergency police headquarters and the major crimes directorate. Those attacks left 27 people dead.

Violence in Iraq hit a nearly two-year peak in July, with 325 deaths reported, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. That's the deadliest single month since August 2010, when the toll reached 426, the ministry said.

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