In the bloodiest single incident, 13 Iraqi soldiers died when a suicide attacker drove a fuel tanker into an army base in Mosul in northern Iraq on March 23.

The US military said it killed 12 militants preparing suicide attacks in a house east of Baquba.

At least 15 people died in rocket and mortar fire apparently aimed at Baghdad's Green Zone.

Eight civilians were killed and more than 40 were injured when rockets landed short of their targets on March 23 morning.

The bloodshed comes despite an overall reduction in violence since last June. That was when the US deployed an extra 30,000 troops in violence-hit areas - the so-called “troop surge”.

Iraqi and US soldiers have been engaged in a major offensive in Mosul, which US commanders say is al-Qaeda's last urban stronghold in Iraq.

In another deadly attack, at least seven shoppers in a Baghdad market were killed when gunmen travelling in three cars opened fire.

At least 16 people were wounded when the drive-by shooting happened in the southern Zaafariniya area of the city, police said.

Elsewhere in the Shula district of Baghdad, at least five people were killed when a suicide bomber struck a queue outside a petrol station. A roadside bomb also killed five Iraqi soldiers close to the city of Kirkuk.