The main target of Thursday's attacks was Baghdad, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a crowded market in southern Dora neighbourhood, killing at least 12 people and wounding 25, security officials said.

The bomber targeted a US patrol that was passing through a popular Assyrian market in the confessionally mixed neighbourhood, officials from the interior and defence ministry said.

The market attack came soon after a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin inside a Baghdad police station, killing three policemen and injuring 20, among then 12 officers and eight civilians, officials said.

The day began on a bloody note when a suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Qaeda militia early morning in the tense northern city Kirkuk as they were lining up to receive their salaries, police said.