At least 17 people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of bomb attacks targeting mainly Shia areas of Baghdad, police and medical sources have said.

Eight vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated in neighbourhoods across the Iraqi capital on Monday, an interior ministry official and a medical source told the AFP news agency.

A police source told Al Jazeera that the bombs struck the Nahrawan, Jadidah and Jihad neighbourhoods in the southwest of the city, Ma'amel in southeast Baghdad, Karada and Amanah in the centre of the capital, and Shurtah and Husseniyah in the northeast.

All bombs were packed inside parked cars, the source said, with targets including a market place and restaurant. The source said 17 people had been been killed and 79 injured, although the Reuters news agency put the death toll at 39.

The attacks struck Baghdad as Shia Muslims marked Shabaniyah, the anniversary of the birth of Imam Mehdi, a key figure in their faith.

Violence has been increasing in Iraq, with more than 1,000 people killed last month - the deadliest since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006-07.