The US troop increase has not halted deadly car bombings

The blast happened in Bayaa in the south-west of the city - an area which has been targeted several times by car bombs blamed o­n Sunni insurgents.

Bystanders used blankets to carry away dead and injured, placing them in the back of pick-up trucks, Reuters said.

Bombs have continued to rock the city despite an 11-week security clampdown.

Correspondents say that while the so-called surge has managed to reduce deaths linked to sectarian violence, there is little evidence that it has made inroads against the insurgency.

North of the capital in the Sunni city of Samarra, coordinated attacks o­n a police station left at least 10 people dead.

Militants fired shots at the police station and then a suicide car bomber rammed the gates. The local police chief was said to be among the dead.

In other developments

• US forces raided Baghdad's Sadr City district, a Shia militant stronghold, saying they killed up to 10 gunmen
• A car bomb near a government ministry in Baghdad's Mansur district killed at least two people and injured several others
• The US announced the deaths of three more of its soldiers since Friday, two in Anbar province and o­ne in Baghdad