At least 19 people - 13 Iraqis and seven Coalition soldiers - have been killed and more than 100 injured in four separate incidents in Iraq this morning.
A suspected suicide car bomb attack in the northern Iraq city of Mosul killed at least nine Iraqis and wounded up to 100, the US military said.
A US statement said the bomb, hidden inside a taxi, detonated in front of Mosul's city hall, causing substantial damage to the building and destroying at least nine vehicles in the area.
An Iraqi police officer said the attack appeared to have targeted Salem al-Hadj Isa, the mayor of Mosul and the head of the local province's security commission. The bomb went off in front of the mayor's office, locals said. Mr Isa was unharmed.
Earlier, a suspected suicide car bomb killed four Iraqis and one US soldier outside a US base in the northern town of Baquba. Sixteen Iraqis and three US soldiers were wounded.
US soldiers cleared the area at the former Iraqi air force facility now used by the US Army's 1st Infantry Division. The blast took place as hundreds of Iraqis who work at the base stood in line awaiting security checks.
The bombings were the latest in a series of attacks on US forces and their allies in the days leading up to the handover of sovereignty in Iraq on June 30th. A car bomb exploded on Sunday near the gate of another a US-run base north of Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 30 others - including two American soldiers, the US military said.
Five soldiers were also killed clearing mines in the Polish-run occupation zone in Iraq.
"During a de-mining operation an accidental explosion killed five Coalition coldiers: two Poles, two Slovaks and one Latvian," said a spokesman for Poland's general staff. Several other soldiers were injured.
A US Marine was also killed in the restive al-Anbar province west of Baghdad. The US said the soldier, assigned to the First Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed while conducting "security and
stability operations" in the province, which includes the cities of Falluja and Ramadi.
The death raises to at least 605 the number of US troops killed in action in Iraq since the invasion last year.