Bombs hit Baghdad as Australian PM makes surprise visit

Sunni Arabs also Monday ended their boycott of talks on drawing up a post-Saddam Hussein constitution, which had threatened to delay a key stage in the country's political transition.

The latest bombings came less than less than 24 hours after a massive truck blew up outside a police station in the capital on Sunday.

Monday's first bombing targeted the Al-Sadeer Hotel in central Baghdad, which is used by foreign security personnel, an interior ministry official said.

Most of the six killed and 16 wounded were hotel security guards as the bomber exploded the car at the gates to the hotel, which has been bombed in the past.

Just over two hours later, another car bomb targeted a police commando patrol under the Harithiyah bridge in the west of the city, killing two policemen and wounding 11.

The attacks followed Sunday's massive suicide truck bombing against a police station in the southeast of the capital that killed 40 people, many of them policemen. Thirty-three people were wounded.

The explosion outside the Al-Rashid police station in the Al-Mashtel neighbourhood left a huge crater in the street, damaged or destroyed 22 cars, and set ablaze 10 shops and a residential building.

"The bodies of the victims, many of whom were policemen, were completely burnt by the blast," an interior ministry official said.

The US military said Iraqi police initially reported a toll of at least 40 Iraqi citizens killed and 25 wounded and that the truck was loaded with 500 pounds (220 kilograms) of explosives.