A wave of early morning explosions has rocked mainly Shi’ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens.

The Monday attacks, three carried out using parked explosives-laden cars and one with a separate bomb, hit crowded commercial areas near Shi’ite mosques.

The deadliest took place in the eastern Ur neighbourhood where a car bombing killed at least 10 people and wounded 23 others, police said.

Another car exploded in the central Karrada area, killing eight people and wounding 25, they added.

One civilian was also killed and seven were wounded in another explosion in the southwestern Amil neighbourhood.

In the western Sunni neighbourhood of Ghazaliyah, another car bomb ripped through a commercial area, killing four civilians and wounding 11 others, police said.

Two medical officials confirmed the causality figures.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but they bear the hallmarks of Sunni extremist militants seeking to undermine confidence in Shi’ite-led government efforts to maintain security nationwide.

An al-Qaeda breakaway group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been behind similar attacks in the past.

Iraq is experiencing a resurgence of violence to levels not seen since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007.