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A series of bombs killed at least 25 people across Iraq on Sunday ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, police and medical sources said, according to Reuters.

Altogether 16 bombs went off, the deadliest of which was in the mainly Shi'ite city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, where two car bombs blew up in quick succession, killing at least five people, police said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind Sunday's attacks, but Sunni Islamist and other insurgents including al Qaeda, which views Shi'ite Muslims as non-believers, have been regaining ground in Iraq this year.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in acts of violence in Iraq so far in 2013, reversing a decline in sectarian bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007.

In Kut, 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, four car bombs exploded separately, one of them near a primary school and another close to a restaurant, killing at least two people and wounding 31, police said.

Leaflets signed by al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate were distributed in recent days on the streets of Baquba, a city northeast of the capital, telling residents not to send their children to school or they will be killed, residents and police said.

A roadside bomb exploded near a soccer pitch where boys aged 14 to 16 were playing a match in Madaen, 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing four of them, police and medics said.

In the capital, a series of bombs went off in busy streets in predominantly Sunni districts, killing eight people. Two car bombs exploded simultaneously near a car repair workshop in the city of Samawa, killing two people.

In Samarra, 60 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, three suicide bombers clashed with policemen before detonating their vests, killing themselves and four others, police said.