Two car bombs and seven roadside bombs targeted two Shia places of worship, known as husseiniyahs, in Kirkuk, one in the city's north and another in its south, killing a total of five people and wounding 14, a senior police officer told AFP.
The attacks occurred around 7:30 pm (1630 GMT), the officer said. A doctor from Kirkuk general hospital confirmed the toll. Oil-rich and ethnically mixed Kirkuk is part of a swathe of territory in north Iraq that the autonomous Kurdistan region wants to incorporate, over the strong objections of Baghdad.
Earlier on Sunday, a car bomb exploded at the local headquarters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in the town of Jalawla in the province of Diyalah, after a number of people seeking to join the Kurdish peshmerga security forces had gathered, a police officer said.
The blast in Jalawla, which like Kirkuk lies in disputed territory, killed two recruits and wounded 13, the officer and a doctor at Jalawla Hospital said. The dispute over territory in northern Iraq is the greatest threat to the country's long-term stability, diplomats and officials say. Ties between Baghdad and Kurdistan are also marred by disputes over oil and power-sharing.
While violence has decreased significantly from its peak in 2006-2007, attacks still occur almost every day in Iraq.