A series of bomb attacks and shootings have left at least 60 people dead and more than 100 more injured.

The coordinated attacks mainly targeted Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims and security forces across Iraq during a major religious festival.

A car bomb exploded in the Shi'ite city of Kerbala on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding 17 others.

Witnesses said that the car was parked near a bus station in Twereej district, east of the Kerbala city.

Taxi driver Kadhim Hashim said: "I was waiting for passengers in the morning when all of a sudden a blast took place. I flew up into the air (with the impact of the blast) and then down to earth. I started to crawl and I saw people, wounded people scattered on the ground, some of them had their legs ripped off,"

In a separate attack police said at least 24 people were killed when five bombs hit pilgrims across Baghdad as they gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of Shi'ite Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammad.

Another of the Baghdad blasts killed at least 16 people as pilgrims passed through a police checkpoint in the central capital district of Karrada.

There were two bombings in the City of Hilla, killing 22 and a car bomb in Balad left four dead.

Five soldiers were also killed by gunmen in an attack on an army checkpoint in the south of the capital.

Earlier this month, 26 people were killed and more than 190 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-rigged car outside a Shi'ite religious office in the capital.

Iraqi Sunni insurgents tied to al Qaeda are thought to have launched the attacks in an attempt to reignite sectarian violence which almost lead to civil war and killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-2007.

Political tensions are also running high since American troops left Iraq in December with the Sunni, Shi'ite and ethnic Kurdish blocks that make up the country's government feuding over power-sharing.