A series of car bombs hit several mostly Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 46, according to police officials.

The deadliest of the day’s attacks took place in Baghdad’s central Nidhal Street, where four civilians were killed and 11 were wounded, police officials said. In the Kazimiyah district, three people died and nine were wounded in another bombing. Car bombs also exploded in the areas of Shaab, Shammaiya, Karrada and Maamil, killing a total of seven people and wounding 30, police officials added.

On April 30, Iraq is to hold its first parliamentary election since the withdrawal of US troops in late 2011.

The explosions, all from parked explosives-laden vehicles, coincided with the anniversary of the 2003 fall of Baghdad in the allied operation that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

The immediate suspects in the bombings are Al Qaida-inspired organizations and other Sunni groups, which often use car bombs and suicide attacks to undermine the Shiite-led Baghdad government.