Baghdad, Feb 18 (IANS): At least eight people were killed and 59 wounded in a wave of car bomb explosions in Iraq's capital of Baghdad and in Babil province Tuesday, police said.

In Iraq's central province of Babil, seven people were killed and 43 wounded in four car bomb explosions in the provincial capital city of Hilla and the towns of Mussayab, Iskandiyah and Mahawil to its north, a local police source told Xinhua.

In Baghdad, a booby-trapped car detonated in Baiyaa district in the southern part of the city, leaving a civilian dead and 10 others wounded, a police source told Xinhua.

Another car bomb went off in an industrial area in southwestern Baghdad, wounding four people and damaging several shops and civilian cars, while two more people were wounded when another car bomb ripped through Amil district in southern Baghdad, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.