Three suicide attacks in the central Iraqi city of Baquba have killed at least 27 people and injured 40 more.Two explosions happened within minutes near a police checkpoint in the city, 60km (40 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.
A third blast shortly afterwards targeted the city's main hospital.
The attacks came just days before nationwide parliamentary elections, only the second such polls since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
The first attack came at around 0930 (0630 GMT), when a suicide car bomber crashed and detonated his vehicle at a police checkpoint.
The second car bomber struck moments later at a nearby road junction.
Sectarian tensions
The attacks come amid heightened sectarian tension ahead Sunday's polls, with fears Iraq could slide back into sectarian violence.
Baquba has been the scene of occasional fighting between Islamist militants and US-backed Afghan troops, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad.
Iraqi police and military are mounting a vast nationwide operation involving hundreds of thousands of personnel, to try to prevent attacks of this kind in the run-up to Sunday's parliamentary vote, adds our correspondent.
There have been angry protests by both Sunni and Shia groups ahead of the election, with Sunni groups complaining they are being discriminated against.
Shia parties insist the Baathists must be purged and have voiced fears about what they see as American interference in the electoral process.
Baathism is a form of secular Arab nationalism and was the ideology espoused by Saddam Hussein when he came to power.
Although a minority, Sunni Muslims were dominant under Saddam Hussein's rule but have since complained of being marginalised under the post-Saddam Shia-led government.
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