Bomb blasts ripped through a number of Iraqi cities Monday, killing dozens of people.

Iraqi officials say the worst violence was in the southern city of Kut where two explosions have killed at least 35 people and wounded 60 others.

Police officials in the southern holy Shi'ite city of Najaf say two car bombs have killed at least three people and wounded 32 others. Also in the south, a car bomb exploded in Karbala, killing at least two people.

In the north, authorities say two suicide bombers targeted an anti-terrorism unit in Tikrit, killing at least three people, including two police officers, and wounding seven others.

Elsewhere in the north, police say multiple bombings in Diyala province have killed at least eight people, while two separate blasts in Kirkuk have killed one person and wounded 12 others.

The attacks come a day after a coordinated series of explosions in Baghdad killed five Iraqi security force members. Another bombing Monday in the capital killed one person.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have expressed concern about the country's ability to handle security after U.S. forces withdraw at the end of the year.

Iraqi officials said early this month that they would start talks with the United States about maintaining a training mission in the country after the December pull-out.