Insurgents have killed at least 25 Iraqis in attacks in towns north of Baghdad, reports say.
A suicide car bomber blew himself up in Balad, killing at least 15 people and wounding many others, police said.
In Baquba, five soldiers were killed in an attack on an army checkpoint, and five other people died in a series of other bomb attacks in the town.
Meanwhile, attempts are continuing to form Iraq's first democratic government before parliament opens next week.
String of attacks
In Balad, the attacker detonated his vehicle outside the house of an Iraqi army officer, damaging several houses, police said.
The Baquba attacks began at about 0700 (0400 GMT), when insurgents bombarded an army checkpoint in the western al-Muradiyah district with small arms and mortar fire, killing at least five troops and wounding six, reports said.
Later, a series of bomb attacks in the town left at least five people dead.
A car bomb exploded in a street in the al-Mualimeen area. Two policemen were killed, a police spokesman said.
Further roadside bomb attacks killed three people - it was not clear whether they were security forces or civilians - and a mortar was fired into the centre of the town but failed to cause any injuries.
At least 18 people were said to have been wounded in the various incidents in Baquba.
An internet statement, purportedly by al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Baquba attacks.
It came as the Iraqi government released what they said were recent, undated pictures of Zarqawi, who has a $25m bounty on his head.
Kurdish president?
Violence also continued in Baghdad on Monday, with at least one police officer killed by gunmen.
An oil pipeline in southern Samarra, some 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, was also attacked by rebels.
Witnesses described hearing a huge explosion and seeing fireballs and black smoke rise above the pipeline, which carries oil to Baghdad's Dora oil refinery.
Against a backdrop of continuing violence, Iraq said on Sunday that it would hold the first session of its newly elected assembly on 16 March.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said that if a government had not been selected by then, discussions would continue within the assembly itself.
As negotiations to form a coalition continued between the main Shia list, which has won a slim majority of seats, and the main Kurdish alliance, Kurds said they expected to get the post of president.
The favourite to take the most powerful post, prime minister, is Ibrahim Jaafari, of the Shia Islamic Daawa Party.
It has been reported the position of parliamentary speaker might go to a Sunni.
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