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 34 people and wounded 60 others.

Police officials in the southern holy Shi'ite city of Najaf say two car bombs have killed at least two people and wounded 17 others.

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

Elsewhere in the north, police say two separate blasts in Kirkuk have killed one person and wounded at least four other people.

The attacks come a day after a coordinated series of explosions in Baghdad killed five Iraqi security force members.

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.