AT least 13 people have died in a series of car bombs in east Baghdad.

The explosions happened minutes apart in the Shia neighbourhood of New Baghdad. At least 25 others were injured.

Iraq is still gripped by sectarian violence despite hopes new Prime Minister Haider al Abadi can garner support for a united stand against Islamic State (IS).

He aims to mend ­Baghdad's relations with Sunnis and Kurds to defeat the militants controlling parts of Iraq and Syria.

Mr Abadi formed his government on Monday in what was billed as a break from the more abrasive style of his predecessor Nuri al Maliki, whose policies were blamed by many Iraqis for fuelling sectarianism and pushing the country to the brink of collapse.

IS fighters seized large chunks of Iraq's north and west this year, welcomed by many of the Sunni Muslim minority, who blamed the government for targeting them with indiscriminate arrests and discriminatory policies.

Mr Abadi has appealed to the international community to help Iraq fight IS, urging action "immediately to stop the spread of this cancer."

He faces multiple crises, from the need to convince the Sunnis they should stand with Baghdad against IS to persuading minority Kurds not to break away and convincing his own majority Shi'ites he can protect them from Sunni hardliners.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr Abadi enjoys the support of nearly all of Iraq's major political groups, and the two most influential outside powers, Iran and the US.

But he still faces a big challenge to placate all of the forces in Iraq.