A series of bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 12 people and wounded 29 others, police and medical sources said, according to BBC News.

The biggest blast, a car bomb, left at least eight dead near a busy restaurant in the Shia district of Shula in the north of the city.

At least four other bombings were reported in other areas of Baghdad.

Violence in Iraq has declined in recent years, but bomb attacks are still a regular occurrence.

Baghdad is currently hosting a major auction inviting international firms to explore oil and gas across Iraq.

Thursday's attacks follow two bombings targeting security forces in the city on 13 May in which killed six people died.

In April, a series of blasts struck a number of Iraqi cities, killing at least 35 people and injuring 100 more.

Shootings and bombings killed 45 people in the run-up to an Arab League summit on 20 March.

US forces withdrew from Iraq in December last year, nine years after invading the country to topple Saddam Hussein.