Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday urged Iraqis to come together in a process of national reconciliation following Sunday's bombing in Baghdad, the deadliest the city has seen in months.

"National reconciliation must be an open door, through which all who believe ... in the political process can enter," al-Maliki told a gathering of branches of Iraq's prominent al-Abid tribe on Monday.

"We must pass through that door, lest we return to violence, murder, racism, and communal strife," the Iraqi prime minister said.

His remarks followed a surge in violence across the country. At least 31 people were killed and 64 were injured in three bombings in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday.

In Sunday's first bombing, Baghdad's deadliest in months, at least 28 people were killed and 54 were injured when a man driving a motorcycle detonated explosives strapped to his body outside a police recruitment centre.

Later on Sunday, three people died and 10 more were injured in twin car bombings in different districts of western Mosul, some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad. (dpa)