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UPDATE 3-Explosions kill 58 in Iraq, French consulate hit

* Car bombs and attacks across country

* Police guard killed at French consulate

* Insurgents attempt to stoke sectarianism

(Adds quotes, more attacks, updates death toll)

By Suadad al-Salhy and Raheem Salman

BAGHDAD, Sept 9 (Reuters) - At least 58 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Sunday, including a car bomb outside a French consulate.

Iraq's conflict has eased since its height in 2006-2007 when sectarian slaughter killed thousands. But Sunni Islamists and an al Qaeda affiliate still launch about one major attack a month in an effort to reignite tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims following the U.S. military withdrawal in December.

The most serious of the bombings, blasts and shootings on Sunday happened near the city of Amara, 300 km (185 miles) south of Baghdad, when two car bombs exploded outside a Shi'ite shrine and a market place, killing at least 16 people, officials said.

"So far 16 corpses were brought to the hospital, and more than 100 people were wounded," said Sayid Hasanain, a local health official.

With its main hospital overflowing with injured from the attacks, mosques in Amara used prayer loudspeakers to call for blood donations.

Overnight in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police said.

Later on Sunday, a car bomb killed eight people queuing for jobs as police guards for the Iraqi North Oil Company in the flashpoint city of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk was hit by several other blasts. A car bomb and a bomb packed into a motorcycle detonated outside a crime investigation office, killing seven and wounding 40.

More people were killed in several other blasts across the country, including in the towns of Baquba, Samarra, Basra and Tuz Khurmato.

FRENCH TARGET

The car bomb that exploded outside the French consular building in the usually stable city of Nassiriya, 300 km south of Baghdad, killed a police guard and wounded four other guards, authorities said. The consul, an Iraqi citizen, was not at the office at the time of the attack.

Two other people were killed and three wounded by a separate car bomb in the city.

French diplomats have been hit before by violence in Iraq.

In June last year, a French embassy convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad that wounded seven local Iraqi guards, one month after another embassy convoy was hit by an explosive device.

Since the last U.S. troops left , insurgents have often hit high-profile targets, including Shi'ite religious sites or local military or government offices, to show they can still carry out coordinated attacks and undermine the government's claim to provide security.

Iraq's local al Qaeda wing, Islamic State of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for other major attacks on security forces and Shi'ite neighbourhoods. But former members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baathist party and other Sunni Islamist groups are also fighting the government.

Infighting in Iraq's delicate cross-sectarian government, and a resurgence of the al Qaeda wing, have raised fears of a return to widespread violence, especially as Iraq struggles to contain spillover from the growing conflict in Syria.

(Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk, Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit, Aref Mohammed in Basra and Suadad al-Salhy and Raheem Salman in Baghdad; Writing by Barry Malone and Patrick Markey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

((barry.malone@thomsonreuters.com)(+964 7901917024)(Reuters Messaging: barry.malone.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: IRAQ VIOLENCE/

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UPDATE 2-Wave of blasts kill 34 in Iraq, French consulate hit

* Car bombs and attacks across country

* Police guard killed at French consulate

* Insurgents attempt to stoke sectarianism

(Adds details, background, quotes)

BAGHDAD, Sept 9 (Reuters) - At least 34 people were killed in a series of attacks and blasts across Iraq on Sunday, including a car bomb outside a French consular building, as the government grapples with a persistent insurgency.

Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda have launched a series of major attacks this year in an attempt to stoke the kind of political and sectarian tensions that drove the country to near civil war in 2006-2007.

The most serious of the 16 attacks happened overnight in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, when gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police sources said.

A car bomb killed eight people who were queuing to apply to be recruited as police guards for the Iraqi North Oil Company in the flashpoint city of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said.

The car bomb that exploded outside the French consular building in the usually stable city of Nassiriya, 300 km south of Baghdad, killed a police guard and wounded four other guards, authorities said.

Another car bomb also detonated in the city, killing two and wounding three.

More people were killed in several other blasts across the country in the towns of Kirkuk, Samarra, Basra and Tuz Khurmato.

FEARS OF RETURN TO VIOLENCE

The blast in Nassiriya damaged the building where the French embassy operates a consular office, but the honorary consul himself, an Iraqi citizen, was not at the office at the time of the attack, one French diplomat said.

French diplomats have been hit before by violence in Iraq.

In June last year, a French embassy convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad that wounded seven local Iraqi guards and badly damaged an embassy vehicle. A month earlier, another French embassy convoy had been hit by an explosive device.

At that time France had been on high alert for attacks overseas due to tensions over the presence of its troops in Afghanistan and the country's ban on allowing full-length Islamic veils, which was widely criticised by Muslims abroad as harming their religious freedom.

The Iraqi government, riven by infighting among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish political factions, is still struggling to battle Islamist militants and an al Qaeda affiliate nine months after the last U.S. troops left.

Iraq's local al Qaeda wing, Islamic State of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for other major attacks on security forces and Shi'ite neighbourhoods. But former members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baathist party and other Sunni Islamist groups are also fighting the government.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks.

Tension in Iraq's delicate power-sharing government, and a resurgence of the al Qaeda group, have raised fears of a return to widespread violence, especially as Iraq struggles to contain spillover from the growing conflict in neighbouring Syria.

(Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk, Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit, Aref Mohammed in Basra and Suadad al-Salhy and Raheem Salman in Baghdad; Writing by Barry Malone and Patrick Markey; Editing by Alison Williams)

((barry.malone@thomsonreuters.com)(+964 7901917024)(Reuters Messaging: barry.malone.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: IRAQ VIOLENCE/

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© Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATE 1-Wave of blasts kill 24 in Iraq, French consulate hit

(Adds more attacks, details)

BAGHDAD, Sept 9 (Reuters) - At least 24 people were killed in 10 blasts across Iraq on Sunday, including a car bomb outside a French consular building.

Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda have launched a series of major attacks this year in an attempt to stoke the kind of political and sectarian tensions that drove the country to near civil war in 2006-2007.

The most serious attack happened overnight in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, when gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police sources said.

One car bomb exploded outside the French consular building in the usually stable city of Nassiriya, 300 km (185 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding two people, police said. Another car bomb also detonated in the city, killing two and wounding three.

More people were killed in several other blasts across the country in the towns of Kirkuk, Samarra, Basra and Tuz Khurmato.

The government, riven by infighting among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish political factions, is still struggling to battle Islamist militants and an al Qaeda affiliate nine months after the last U.S. troops left.

Iraq's local al Qaeda wing, Islamic State of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for other major attacks on security forces and Shi'ite neighbourhoods. But former members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baathist party and other Sunni Islamist groups are also fighting the government.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks.

Tension in Iraq's delicate power-sharing government, and a resurgence of the al Qaeda group, have raised fears of a return to widespread violence, especially as Iraq struggles to contain spillover from the growing conflict in neighbouring Syria.

(Reporting by Mustafa Mohammed in Kirkuk, Geswan Hassan in Tikrit and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad; Writing by Barry Malone; Editing by Patrick Markey and Alison Williams)

((suadad.alsalhy@thomsonreuters.com)(+9647901917021)(Reuters Messaging: suadad.alsalhy.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: IRAQ VIOLENCE/

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© Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.

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