28 more killed in deadly Iraqi violence

In the deadliest single incident, a car bomb exploded outside a bank in the small town of Suweira, on the banks of the Tigris southeast of the capital in an area plagued by tit-for-tat killings between Sunnis and Shias.

Major Mohammed Hassan of the Suweira police said 15 civilians had been killed in the massive blast outside the Rafidain Bank and 35 wounded.

In Baghdad, two explosions almost an hour apart rolled across the centre of the city. One bomb killed a policeman and wounded four others. Three more policemen and a civilian were wounded when a second device detonated nearby.

Police also reported clashes between gunmen and units of the Iraqi army in central Baghdad's Fadel neighbourhood that killed three civilians and wounded five.

Earlier five more US troops have been killed in action in Iraq, their headquarters said yesterday, bringing the number of American troops to have died this month to 53.

A statement from the US-led coalition in Iraq said that two marines from Regimental Combat Team 5, which is based in Fallujah in western Iraq, died on Sunday following unspecified "enemy action".