Baghdad - Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abdel-Mahdi called the lethal bombings that have wracked his country leading up to US withdrawal from Iraqi cities "crimes against humanity" on Saturday.

Speaking a day after a bomb in a central Baghdad motorcycle market killed at least 19 people and wounded 47 more, Abdel-Mahdi indirectly blamed regional powers for the spike in attacks ahead of the June 30 deadline for US troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns.

"We need a special effort from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to punish those who fund these attacks, or allow the terrorists safe passage, who provide them with weapons ... as responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity," Abdel-Mahdi said in remarks run on state television.

"Some in the world and in the region have remained silent or have contented themselves with condemnation, while hundreds are being killed every day," the vice- president said.

Friday's bombing followed a devastating attack on a crowded market in Sadr City that left 74 dead and hundreds more wounded on Wednesday, and a wave of lethal bombings across the capital that left at least 15 people dead and 72 wounded in four attacks on Monday.

"(The bombers) seek to break the will of the Iraqi people and to sew division among the political forces," Abdel-Mahdi said. "National unity is the foundation of victory."

On Friday, US President Barack Obama said Prime Minister Nuri-al Maliki needed to make more progress on the political front by resolving contentious issues between Iraq's religious and ethnic groups.

"I haven't seen as much political progress in Iraq - negotiations between the Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds - as I would like to see," Obama said.

Al-Maliki and US military commanders in Iraq had warned that there might be a spike in violence ahead of the deadline for US troops to withdraw from Iraqi urban areas, but have said that Iraqi security forces are ready to take responsibility for keeping the country safe. (dpa)