The Interior Ministry said on Sunday that bombings in central and western Iraq killed at least five people and wounded 53 others.

South of Baghdad in the predominantly Shiite town of Mussayyab, a motorcycle rigged with explosives blew up. At least five people died in the marketplace bombing. According to the ministry, another 37 were wounded.

Mussayyab is in Babil province, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

The ministry added that insurgents detonated a pair of car bombs in the western city of Ramadi in another attack. The vehicles exploded near the headquarters of the city’s traffic police. Seven people were wounded in the bombing.

The provincial capital of Anbar, the city of Ramadi, was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between the US military and Sunni insurgents in the past. The overall security situation in Ramadi, as well as the rest of the province, has dramatically improved since 2007, but there has been an increase in sporadic violence in recent months.

(article source: CNN, photo source: University of Amsterdam)