Two bombs exploded in the usually quiet city of Kut in southern Iraq today, killing 12 people and wounding 31.
A roadside bomb and then a car bomb were detonated in a busy commercial area near a gold market in the town centre.
While violence in Iraq has fallen in the last three years, bombings are still a daily occurrence, with insurgents targeting the Iraqi army and police.
Earlier, gunmen linked to al Qaeda overran a security checkpoint in the capital Baghdad, killing five policemen, an Interior Ministry source said.
The insurgents used silenced weapons to attack the checkpoint after dawn and raised the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda affiliate, above it after the assault.
The attack took place in the Mansour district just after three mortar rounds hit the area, the source said. No one was hurt by the barrage.
A Baghdad military commander said the officers were killed by a grenade attack.
Two other policemen were killed on Tuesday whilst trying to defuse two bombs in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City district and a roadside bomb that went off near an army patrol in Sadr City killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded six other people, including three soldiers.
Nearly 400 civilians were killed in bombings and other attacks in July, nearly doubling the toll of the previous month, Iraqi authorities say.
Tens of thousands of people were killed during the height of Iraq's sectarian slaughter in 2006-07.
Insurgents frequently use silenced guns in attacks on security stops to avoid alerting troops or police at nearby checkpoints and to allow them to escape.
Militants are believed to be trying to exploit a political vacuum that followed Iraq's March 7 parliamentary election. Nearly five months later, Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions have yet to sort out a coalition government.
Some politicians say it could be mid-September or later by the time Iraq has a new government.
Reuters