Bombs in two majority Shi'ite Muslim cities in southern Iraq killed at least 30 people on Thursday, according to police and hospital sources.

Scores were also wounded in the blasts, which struck during the month of Muharram - a holy time for Shi'ites who are often targeted by al Qaeda affiliates in the country as well as by other Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Two explosions in Hilla - about 60 miles south of the capital Baghdad - caused the majority of Thursday's casualties.

In Kerbala a car bomb near a bus terminal killed several others.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Iraq so far this year following last December's withdrawal of U.S. troops.