BAGHDAD (AFP) ― Violence in Iraq killed 33 people on Tuesday, more than half of them in car bombings in the Baghdad region that followed similar blasts the previous day, officials said.

The Shiite-led government has struggled to rein in a year-long surge in violence, despite carrying out wide-ranging operations against militants in Sunni Arab areas.

The blasts in the Iraqi capital hit four districts, killing at least 10 people.

And three more car bombs exploded in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing five people, while one in Mussayib and another in Iskandiriyah killed four more.

The attacks followed four car bombs in Baghdad on Monday that killed at least 16 people.

And in the northern province of Nineveh, violence killed 14 people, including a civilian as well as six security personnel.

The bloodshed in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

All of the city of Fallujah, near Baghdad, and parts of Ramadi farther west have been held by antigovernment fighters for weeks.

Attacks and clashes have killed more than 500 people so far this month and more than 1,450 since the start of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.