AP: Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq today, killing at least 36 people and wounding nearly 100 in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged mass anti-government protests in a sign of mounting sectarian tensions.        

Tens of thousands of Sunni protesters rallied in five major cities against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite accused of monopolising power. Sunni protest leaders have rejected a recent call by an Al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq to take up arms against the government, but there is concern militants are trying to exploit the discontent.        

In the city of Samarra, rally speaker Sheik Mohammed Jumaa sent a warning to the prime minister. "Stop tyranny and oppression," he said. "We want our rights. You will witness what other tyrants have witnessed before you."        

In the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the western Anbar province, demonstrators blocked the main highway to Jordan while rallies were held in the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.        

Earlier today, suspected Sunni insurgents detonated five car bombs, killing at least 37 people and wounding 97, health and police officials said.        

Today's bombings targeted an outdoor pet market in Baghdad's northern Kazimyah neighbourhood, a vegetable market in the town of Shomali in Hillah province, south of the Iraqi capital, and a stand for taxi vans on the edge of the southern city of Karbala.  

Image: An Iraqi resident stands near burnt vehicles after a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district, on Friday  Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters