Insurgents launched six apparently co-ordinated attacks in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk today, killing least 14 people.
The bombings came a day after al-Qaeda in Iraq named a successor to its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed following a US air strike last week, and vowed he would press on with a campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings.
"The terrorists want to send a message that they are staying active despite the fact that Zarqawi was killed," said Rizgar Ali, the head of Kirkuk's governing council.
In one of the bloodiest attacks, a car bomb exploded outside the house of a senior police officer, seriously wounding him and killing one of his bodyguards, police said.
When police and US forces gathered in the area, a roadside bomb exploded, killing 10 civilians, victims of a common tactic used by insurgents.
A suicide bomber in a car was shot by guards as he tried to attack the police headquarters in the city. He blew himself up, killing two policemen and wounding 10 civilians.
Another suicide bomber in a car blew himself up at one of the local offices of a Kurdish party headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, wounding two people, police said.
Shortly afterwards, a suicide bomber in a car was shot by guards as tried to attack the same building.
Another suicide bomber in a car attacked another office of that party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, wounding four guards.
A roadside exploded outside a law college, killing one person and wounding two.
Little is known in the west about Zarqawi's successor, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
But US president George W Bush vowed yesterday that he would be "on our list" of targets and said US troops must stay for now to help secure the country.