At least 16 people have been killed in four car bomb blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police say.

Twelve died - including five policemen - and 38 others were wounded in three bombings in the central Karrada district, a mainly Shia neighborhood.

Four more people died in a blast near the heavily fortified government area known as the Green Zone.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb has killed five Iraqi government soldiers who were on patrol.

One of the Karrada bombs went off near an office which issues identity cards to Iraqis.

Police said the bomb's target appeared to be a passing police patrol and that three police officers were among those killed, alongside three civilians.

"It was a horrible scene, suddenly fire spread all over the area. I saw two charred bodies of policemen inside their car and the wounded were lying on the ground, only their hands moving and asking for help," Abu Nour, a 45-year-old supermarket owner, told Reuters news agency.

The second car bomb in Karrada exploded almost simultaneously 500 metres (550 yards) away, in busy market area, killing three civilians, police said.

The third car packed with explosives struck a police patrol in Elwiyah square in another part of Karrada, killing two officers and a civilian.

The bombings came as Iraq's deeply divided government prepared to host a second round of rare talks between arch rivals Iran and the United States on Tuesday to discuss Iraqi security, and a political crisis meeting on Friday.

Other attacks on Monday included:

• One civilian was killed and seven were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Kifah Street, central Baghdad
• Two people were shot dead in the town of Iskandariya, south of the Iraqi capital
• At least two policemen were killed and 10 wounded when a woman hiding an explosives belt under her Islamic gown blew herself up in the western Anbar province.

PHOTO CAPTION

Car bomb in Baghdad