Deadly bombings hit Baghdad

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more have been wounded after a new wave of bombings hit Baghdad, Iraq.

Iraqi police say the deadliest in Sunday's series of attack occurred in Baghdad's northern Shaab neighbourhood, when two parked car bombs exploded simultaneously near a restaurant and a tea house.

Officials say that blast killed at least ten people and wounded 26.

Another parked car bomb ripped through in capital's Shia eastern district of Sadr City, killing five and wounding 10, while another explosion killed three civilians and wounded six in a commercial area in the central Bab al-Muadham neighbourhood, officials said.

Two further blasts killed two civilians and wounded 13, police said.

Meanwhile, government forces are preparing a "major attack" to regain control of the rebel-held Falluja, which has been in the hands of fighters from Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since Saturday.

The takeover of Fallujah and parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, is the first time that militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the height of the bloody insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

"Iraqi forces are preparing for a major attack in Fallujah," a senior Iraqi official said.

Special forces have already conducted operations inside the city, the official said.

The regular army has paused on the edge of the city to allow residents time to leave, awaiting orders to launch "the attack to crush the terrorists".

On Friday and Saturday, more than 160 people were killed in the worst violence to hit Anbar province in years.