At least three people were killed and 15 people were wounded in a car bomb explosion today in the ethnically tense northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk.
The car bomb went off in the industrial district of Kirkuk as pedestrians were passing by. Police said it did not appear to have been a suicide attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, is in one of the richest oil fields in the Middle East and is home to Arab, Kurdish and Turkomen communities, each vying for power there.
An Iraqi civilian was killed and nine were wounded in a blast in the north-east town Tal Afar, scene of ongoing clashes between insurgents and US soldiers.
Witnesses said someone placed a suspicious object in the trunk of a car and fled the scene, the US military said.
The US military said nearly 20 insurgents have been killed since Sunday in Tal Afar.
Elsewhere, Iraqi troops detonated about three metric tons of explosives found near oil fields in southern Iraq. The explosives, including 1,282 mines, 628 mortar rounds and 825 artillery shells, were discovered by Oil Protection Services who called the army to remove them.
An American soldier died of injuries suffered in a land mine explosion south of the capital, the US command said.
In Baghdad, gunmen assassinated a police colonel in a market in the city's Wahda district, police said.
AP