Baghdad, Jul 29 (IANS): At least 23 people were killed and 142 wounded early Monday in a series of car bombs in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and in the city of Kut southeast of the capital, police said.

The attacks occurred during the morning rush hours when 10 car bombs were detonated in different districts of Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 117 others, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, five car bombs and two roadside bombs went off in Kut, some 170 km southeast of Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 25, a police source said.

The death toll could rise as ambulances, civilian and police vehicles were evacuating the victims to hospitals and medical centres in the cities.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in five years, raising fears that the latest bloodshed is bringing the country back to a full blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007 when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.