Bombings kill scores near Baghdad

A wave of attacks targeting commercial areas in and outside Baghdad killed a total of 41 people on Monday, according to Iraqi officials.

In the deadliest of Monday's bombings, a suicide bomber blew up himself as Shia worshippers left a mosque in the capital's eastern New Baghdad area, officialls said, killing at least 15 people and wounding 26 others.

That was followed by back-to-back car bombings in cities south of Baghdad.

In Karbala, an explosion killed 15 civilians and wounded 31 others. In Babel, two car bombs went off in separate areas, killing 11 people and wounding 29 others.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in Karbala at the time of the attack.

Since early this year, Iraq has been facing increasing levels of violence from the Islamic State and other Sunni fighters who have taken over areas in the country's west and north. The crisis has worsened since June when the Islamic State declared a caliphate in territory under its control.

On Monday, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned "appalling, widespread" crimes being committed by Islamic State forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners and "ethnic and religious cleansing."

"Grave, horrific human rights violations are being committed daily by the Islamic State group and associated armed groups," Pillay said, citing targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, slavery, sex crimes, forced recruitment and destruction of places of worship.

"They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control."

The violence and political divisions have thrown Iraq into deep crisis. At his first press conference since accepting the nomination to be Iraq's next prime minister, Haider al-Abadi on Monday called on the country's numerous militias and tribes to come under government control and stop acting independent of the government.

Abadi said that the phenomena of militias roaming the streets alone "worries me and I consider it very dangerous."

The new prime minister, who has until Sept. 10 to form a new government, said he was optimistic he would make that deadline.

Wire services