Two car bombs have exploded in central Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 26.

In the first attack on Tuesday, a car bomber blew up his vehicle near a US military convoy in central Baghdad, killing at least eight Iraqis and wounding 16, Iraqi journalist Walid Khalid reported.

Khalid told Aljazeera that witnesses said the real number of casualties was much higher than that announced, due to the huge crowds present at the explosion scene.

More than 15 civilian cars and dozens of shops were damaged in the explosion, he added.  

Tuesday's explosion occurred in al-Nasr Square, a main intersection of shops, offices and apartment buildings near the Tigris River, witnesses and a TV report said.

The first blast at 9.40am (0540 GMT) rattled windows in the city centre and thick black smoke rose into the sky.

Second attack

The second car bomb exploded at around 11am (0700 GMT) on Abu Nawas street, in the southern Jadriya neighbourhood.

Khalid said the explosion targeted the headquarters of al-Nahriya (river) police in Abu Nawas street, severely injuring three policemen.

A huge fire erupted in the police building, badly damaging it along with houses close by.

US operation

Also on Tuesday, US forces continued their attack on the northern banks of the Euphrates in their hunt for resistance members, in an area near the Syrian border the US says serves as a staging post for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Operation Matador, the largest US combat engagement this year, involved a unit of about 1000 men attacking areas of al-Anbar province, in the northwest of the country, a US military spokesman said.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi police man runs to the scene after a car bomb exploded at the headquarter of the Tigris River police in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 10, 2005. (AP)