At least 16 people have been killed and at least 30 injured in two suicide bomb attacks close to Shia mosques in Baghdad, officials say.

The attacks on Thursday came as Muslim worshippers celebrated Eid al-Fiter, the festival which comes at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Shia neighbourhood of Jadida, killing 12 people and wounding 30, an Iraqi security official said.

In the second attack, four people were killed when a bomber drove a car laden with explosives car into an Iraqi military armoured vehicle at a checkpoint in the southern district of Zafaraniya, the officials said.

Three soldiers were among those killed in the attack, with another 10 people injured.

In a separate attack, six people were killed on Thursday in a attack by gunmen in the province of Diyala, a region where some of the worst violence has been perpetrated.

The overall level of violence across Iraq has fallen in recent months, according to US military officials, but most of the country remains unstable.

The lastest attacks come a day after four people were killed and another 15 injured in a car bomb attack at a mosque in Balad, north of the capital Baghdad.


Agencies