Al Qaeda militants killed at least eight police in southern Baghdad today while separately insurgents fired 10 mortar bombs at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
A witness said he saw what appeared to be a body hanging from a damaged minibus in the zone, which houses the US embassy and many government ministries. Police said there were casualties, but had no further details.
The Al Qaeda attack in the mainly Sunni Hawr Rajab area of Baghdad was carried out by militants who had stolen two army Humvees before opening fire on a police patrol.
An Interior Ministry official confirmed that eight police had been killed. He said three Iraqi soldiers were killed and another three were wounded, and that two al Qaeda gunmen had also been killed.
The eruption of violence ran against the trend of a sharp drop in attacks in recent months.
The US military said two al Qaeda fighters were killed and two wounded when helicopters attacked the vehicle. It said an F-16 warplane then dropped a 500-pound bomb on the vehicle.
Separately, Iraqi soldiers supported by US forces killed 19 al Qaeda fighters in Baquba. They were killed in an area controlled by the al Qaeda-linked group Islamic State in Iraq.
Two members of a neighbourhood police unit there were killed in the operation and another three were wounded.