A car bomb has exploded at an Iraqi police checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10, including two officers, police said.

The attack occurred about 50km south of Baghdad near the town of Haswa, the police department in nearby Hilla said.

The explosives-packed vehicle had been left by the side of the road, near the checkpoint, and was detonated remotely.

The area south of Baghdad, in and around Hilla, has been dubbed "the triangle of death" by US forces because of the frequency of attacks.

Iraqi forces have set up multiple checkpoints in the area to stem attacks.

Five US soldiers killed

Also on Saturday, five US soldiers were killed and two wounded in two bomb attacks on their patrols in the Iraqi capital, the US military said on Sunday.

One soldier was killed and two wounded when their military vehicle was blown up in the capital's southern district of Dora.

Another four soldiers were killed in a second bomb attack in southwest Baghdad, Sergeant David Abrams said.

The deaths brought the total number of US military personnel who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 1793 according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

PHOTO CAPTION

An unidentified U.S. soldier of the army infantry from the Stryker brigade holds back people during a raid in the town of Hammam Al Alil, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, July 28, 2005. (REUTERS)