Two car bombs exploded in a central Baghdad residential neighborhood, killing at least six people and injuring 43 others near an Interior Ministry building, just few days after US troops found Sunni detainees showing signs of torture, witnesses said.

The blast in the Jadiriyah neighbourhood reverberated through the city centre, sent a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the air and was followed by sporadic small arms fire.

Major Falah al-Mohammedawi from the Interior Ministry said he believed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq was behind the bombing.

Associated Press Television News footage showed several residential buildings collapsed from the blast and a large crater in the road.

Fire-fighters joined neighbours to dig through the debris and pull victims from the rubble.

US Army engineering units were sent to the scene to help in the rescue effort, a statement from the US 3rd Infantry Division said. At least one family was believed buried in the rubble, al-Mohammedawi said.

Police-Captain Nabil Abdel-Qadir said the two car bombs were detonated behind the Interior Ministry building.

Six civilians were killed and three police officers were among the injured, he said.

A five-member family was rescued by fire-fighters after part of their house collapsed, police Major Raed Abbas-Salman said.

The mother had serious burns because she was in the kitchen, while the father and three children suffered shrapnel wounds.

PHOTO CAPTION

The remains of bomber's vehicle lie on a road after an attack in the Kena'an area near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, November 18, 2005. (REUTERS)