A string of at least seven car bomb attacks targeting security forces in and around Baghdad, have killed at least 20 people and injured more than 65, an interior ministry official said.

Thirteen people died and 50 were wounded in four apparently coordinated car bomb attacks in two districts of the capital at about 8am (0400 GMT), the official said.

Five more people died and 14 were wounded when three more car bombs exploded in al-Madain, a town 30km south of the capital that was swept only 10 days ago by the Iraqi army in search of fighters.

Two of the Baghdad blasts targeted Iraqi police forces and the army in the northern district of al-Adhamiyah. Adding to the chaos, fighters fired several mortar shells into the area at the same time, the interior ministry official said.

Two other car bombs targeted police in the eastern district of al-Salikh.

Walid Khalid, an Iraqi journalist, told Aljazeera the car bombs in al-Adhamiyah exploded within 10 minutes of one another.

He said the first bomb exploded in Antar Square hitting an Iraqi police two-vehicle patrol. Two people were killed in the attack and four injured.

Police targeted

A second car bomb targeting an Iraqi National Guards patrol near the Qasim Abu al-Qat restaurant, killed two policemen and two national guards.

Many civilians were wounded in the attack that also caused severe damage to nearby shops and residences.

Another car bomb exploded targeting a joint police and Iraqi National Guards patrol in Nadhim al-Tabaqchari Square, killing and injuring people.

Khalid said casualties were transferred to al-Numan hospital in al-Adhamiya and the Madinat al-Tib hospital.

Colonel Hussain Mutlak said the attacks in al-Adhamiyah killed at least 20 Iraqis, including 15 soldiers and five civilians.

Al-Dura

Half an hour earlier, a bomb exploded just after a US convoy had driven by in the southern al-Dura district.

A 10-year-old girl was wounded when a mortar shell landed on her home in al-Dura at about 8am, the official said.

Al-Madain

In al-Madain, one policeman died and three were hurt when one car carrying a bomb ploughed into a police vehicle at the entrance to the town.

A second car bomb went off outside a communications centre, killing two and injuring six.

A third bomb near the hospital killed two policemen and injured five more.

Further incidents

Also on Friday, a bomb disposal expert was killed and a civilian injured by an explosion in the Kurdish city of Arbil in northern Iraq, local police chief Fahrad Karim said.

And in the southern town of Basra, one border guard was killed and two injured by a bomb, hospital sources said.

The US military, meanwhile, said an American soldier was killed and five others wounded in an explosion early on Thursday in al-Hawija, near Tikrit, in northern Iraq.

A US oil tanker was set ablaze when fighters launched a rocket-propelled grenade attack targeting a US military convoy in al-Yusifiya south of Baghdad.

The violence highlighted the security challenge facing Iraq's new government, which was formed on Thursday after months of political stalemate that stalled efforts to tackle the uprising.

PHOTO CAPTION

Policemen look at remains of a car bomb in the Athamiya district of Baghdad April 29, 2005. (REUTERS)