BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Aug 1: Car bombs exploded outside at least five churches in Iraq on Sunday, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more in an apparently coordinated attack timed to coincide with evening prayers.

"We are expecting a huge number of casualties," an Interior Ministry source told Reuters, saying there had been four blasts at churches in Baghdad and two in the northern city of Mosul. Police in Mosul said they knew of just one church attack there.

The Vatican condemned the blasts - the first attacks on churches during the 15-month insurgency - echoing concerns among Iraqis that they aimed to inflame religious tensions.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber drove into the car park at a Chaldean church in southern Baghdad before detonating his vehicle, killing at least 12 people as worshippers left the building, witnesses said.

The US military has warned that guerillas opposed to the presence of more 160,000 foreign troops may try to deepen divisions between the country's diverse religious communities in their campaign to destabilize Iraq.

A US military spokesman said three of the four attacks in Baghdad were known to be suicide car bombings. An explosion at the Armenian church in Baghdad shattered stained glass windows and hurled chunks of hot metal. Another bomb exploded about 15 minutes later outside the nearby Assyrian church.

MOSUL: Earlier on Sunday, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a police station in Mosul, killing at least five and wounding 53 in the latest strike against Iraqi security forces. Witnesses said the vehicle raced towards a police checkpoint as guards screamed at the driver to stop. When he did not, they opened fire, killing him. -Reuters