At least 21 people died in a dozen blasts and a series of shootings in cities and towns across Iraq on Thursday, reports Reuters and other agencies.

Security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug 16. Five separate bombings in central and northern Iraq, killed and wounded scores of people early Thursday, police said. (Emad Matti/AP) "One of the bloodiest blows came around midday," according to the Associated Press, "When a car bomb struck near the local security forces headquarters in the northern city of Daqouq. As police rushed to the scene, a roadside bomb exploded, killing seven policemen. Another 35 people were hurt."

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed six civilian and wounded 28 in the mainly Shi'ite district of Husainiya on Thursday, local sources report. North of Baghada, in the city of Taji, another car bomb injured nine people.

AP says that there "was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda's Iraqi branch."

More than 100 people have been killed in violence across the country since the start of August.

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