BAGHDAD (AFP) - A wave of car bombs struck in and around Baghdad on Monday morning, killing at least 29 people, security and medical officials said.

Nine car bombs hit seven different areas of Baghdad, five of them Shiite-majority, while another exploded in Mahmudiyah to the south of the capital.

The blasts also wounded at least 129 people.

Two more car bombs exploded in Kut, south-east of the Iraqi capital, killing at least five people and wounding 35.

With the latest unrest, more than 770 people have been killed in violence in July and over 3,000 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

Iraq has faced years of attacks by militants, but analysts say widespread discontent among members of its Sunni Arab minority that the government has failed to address has fuelled the surge this year.