BAGHDAD: Bombs in two parked cars exploded in a mainly Shia area of Iraq's capital on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 31, police and hospital sources said.

The first blast occurred near a group of labourers gathered to wait for jobs and the second near a traffic intersection, both in the northeastern Sadr City area of Baghdad.

Iraq has been hit by a number of bombings targeting Shias after a political crisis that has threatened to break up its fragile coalition government and raised fears of renewed sectarian violence after US troops pulled out in mid-December.

Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply from the height of sectarian killing in 2006-2007, but insurgents and militias still carry out daily attacks and assassinations in an attempt to undermine the government.