At least 102 people were killed in Iraq over the weekend in a string of suicide attacks.

Bombers struck Shi'ite pilgrims travelling through Baghdad yesterday, killing 12 and wounding 23.

Only hours earlier, vans rammed a primary school and police station in the Shi'ite village of Qabak, killing at least 13 including eight children.

The attack decimated the tiny village, which has only around 200 inhabitants.

Abdul Aal al-Obeidi, the mayor of nearby town Tal Afar, said: "We and Iraq are plagued by al-Qaida."

The twin bombings followed 75 deaths on Saturday in a series of assaults on Shi'ite pilgrims and two cafes in Balad and a Baghdad suburb.

No group has claimed responsibility but the nature of the targets could implicate al-Qaida's Iraq arm. Shi'ite communities and Sunni areas known for hosting militias hostile to al-Qaida were all hit.

A reporter and a cameraman for the al-Sharqiya TV channel were also shot dead in Mosul on Saturday but it is not clear if those killings were linked to the bombing spree.

Al-Sharqiya news director Ali Wajih said: "This is not new. This is usual for Iraq, they kill journalists."

The country has seen continuous sectarian violence since the 2003 US invasion, but Islamist terror groups have recently received weapons looted during Nato's 2011 war on Libya and from the civil war in neighbouring Syria, where al-Qaida fighters frequently cross the border.