At least 15 Iraqis have been killed and up to 84 injured after two car bombs exploded in Baghdad, just hours after an Iraqi brigadier-general and a police colonel were assassinated.

Several civilians are believed to have died in the first explosion that hit security officials as they were in al-Zahawi restaurant in the capital's eastern Baghdad al-Jadida district.

Speaking to witnesses and police officials at the scene, Aljazeera reports that between 15 and 20 people died in the twin blasts.

Less is known about the second explosion, although Aljazeera learned that it was within the vicinity of al-Samarai mosque in the same district.

Shootings

Both attacks come after senior army officer Iyad Imad Mahdi was shot several times as he drove to work at the Ministry of Defence on Thursday morning in the western quarter of the Iraqi capital.

Mahdi was already dead by the time he arrived at Yarmuk hospital at 7.15 am (0315 GMT).

And one hour earlier, unknown assailants also shot police Colonel Jamal Ahmed Hussein several times.

Hussein was killed as he set off for work at the Interior Ministry. He was gunned down in the al-Amin district in southeast Baghdad and died on arrival at the Kindi hospital.

Medical sources in Falluja have also reported the deaths of three members of Iraqi National Guard and the injuries of several more after their patrol was attacked in the city's centre.

More attacks

Meanwhile, a policemen and two civilians were also wounded in two separate bomb explosions on a road near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to Kirkuk police chief General Turhan Yussef.

Yussef said the first bomb exploded around 9.20am on the road leading north and wounded a police officer, followed by a second bomb 2km out of town that injured a couple of civilians.

And the US military announced on Thursday that two marines were killed on Wednesday when their armored vehicle drove over a mine in northwest Iraq during an offensive against fighters.

A statement added that 14 more were wounded in the same blast. Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, at least 1610 US troops have died in Iraq.

Aljazeera has also learned that an Iraqi soldier and a civilian were killed in two separate attacks in the city of Samarra.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi fire-fighters try to douse out the flames after a car bomb in Baghdad. (AFP)