Baghdad, May 17 (EFE).- A spate of attacks Friday in various parts of Iraq left 68 people dead and 158 injured, police sources told Efe The deadliest strike was in Baquba, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad, where a pair of bomb blasts killed 40 and wounded 55 others. Two bombs went off along a street filled with worshippers headed to a Sunni Muslim mosque for Friday prayers. A similar attack two months ago at the same spot resulted in more than 20 casualties.

Two bombs in a Sunni-majority area of west Baghdad killed at least 14 people on Friday, Iraqi officials said, the latest in a series of attacks targeting Sunnis. The two roadside bombs also wounded at least 35 people, the officials said. bur-wd/hc

Two bombs near a Sunni mosque north of Baghdad killed 38 people and wounded 55 on Friday, police and a doctor said, after two days of attacks targeting Iraqi Shiites in which dozens died. One bomb exploded as worshippers were departing the Saria mosque in the city of Baquba while a second detonated after people gathered at the scene of the first blast, the sources said.

Attacks killed 13 people and wounded more than 35 on Thursday, officials said, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed violence plaguing Iraq on "sectarian hatred." In the deadliest attack, a car bomb in the Shiite Sadr City area of Baghdad killed six people and wounded 17. Another in the city's Chikouk area killed one person and wounded four, and a third in Kamaliyah killed three and wounded nine, security and medical officials said. Gunmen also shot dead the brother of a Sunni MP in the Bayaa area of Baghdad, officials said.