neighborhood, killing four. Several Sunni mosques have been attacked in recent months, raising the possibility that largely inactive Shiite militias are starting to carry out retaliatory attacks.

Later, police said a parked car bomb hit a coffee shop in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing six.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures, which included more than 250 wounded. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

The deputy United Nations envoy to Iraq, Jacqueline Badcock, condemned the blasts and urged authorities to do more to protect the Iraqi people.

The violence follows months of protests by Iraq's Sunni minority against the Shiite-led government that began late last year. Attacks have been rising since a deadly crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest inApril. In response, clerics and other influential Shiite and Sunni leaders have called for restraint.

More than 510 people have been killed so far in August, according to an Associated Press count.

The sectarian tensions fueling Iraq's spiraling violence are being exacerbated by the civil war in Syria, where largely Sunni rebels are fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, who is backed by regional Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Iraq's government, which has bolstered ties with Iran in the years since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, has an officially neutral stance on the Syrian civil war. It has long called for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict.

Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said Wednesday that Iraqi security forces and other government institutions are on high alert to protect against any domestic consequences of a