Some Iraqis watches a motorcycle destroyed in a car bomb explosion near a mosque in the southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BAGHDAD, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Seven car bombs exploded across Iraq during the past 24 hours, killing 29 and wounding dozens of others, seen as a setback for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's plans to curb sectarian violence in the war-torn country.

    At least 10 people were killed and 26 others wounded when a car bomb went off near a Shiite mosque in Kamaliyah neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad.

    Two more car bombs went off in quick succession near the Sunnial-Samarraie mosque in the Baghdad al-Jadida neighborhood, killing five people and wounding 10 others.

    In a separate incident, two suicide truck bombs went off at abase housing the Iraqi army's 1st Brigade tasked with protecting oil infrastructure in the Rayadh area, 60 km southwest of Kirkuk, killing 10 soldiers and wounding 13 others.

    Also on Wednesday, a car bomb detonated near a pharmacy close to the al-Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad, slightly wounding two.

    Late on Tuesday, a suicide car bomber drove his car into an Iraqi army base on the main road between Tikrit and Kirkuk, killing four soldiers and wounding 14 others.

    The surge of sectarian violence came three days ahead of a national reconciliation conference in which al-Maliki will try to bring political leaders under one roof to find a common vision to deal with difficulties facing rival communities.

    Al-Maliki has been under mounting pressure to put an end to Shiite-Sunni killings despite the government's call for militia to put down their arms.

    The U.S. military also announced Wednesday that five U.S. soldiers were killed on Monday in separate incidents in western and southern Iraq.

    The latest deaths brought to about 2,940 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.