BAGHDAD, Feb 18: At least 40 people were killed in violence in Iraq on Friday and Thursday night. Twenty of the dead were victims of suicide bombings at two mosques.

In the deadliest incident, 17 people died and at least 25 were wounded when a man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in a Shia mosque in the southern Baghdad district of Dura. "The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt at the Kazimain mosque in Abu Dishr, near Dura," a police official said.

Twin suicide bombers killed three people and wounded more than 15 at the capital's Ali al Baya mosque, another Shia place of worship in Baghdad, as the faithful were about to leave after Friday prayers.

In the third incident, three people, including a child, were killed and five wounded in a blast apparently targeting a police station but struck outside a cafe in north western Baghdad's predominantly Shia Shula district.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and four civilians wounded in a suicide attack targeting pilgrims waiting at an army checkpoint between Mahmudiyah and Latifiyah, south of Baghdad.

"A suicide bomber in a car drove at the checkpoint where there were pilgrims going to Karbala, killing two soldiers and wounding four civilians," said a police official. A Turkman was killed in a bomb blast close to a mosque in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.

The man went to move a bag that had been placed on a car blocking the road to the mosque and it exploded. Twelve Iraqis and two US soldiers died in violence elsewhere in the country since Thursday evening.

Most of the violence targeted Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad, while south of the capital the bodies of two sons of Najaf's police chief were found. "The bodies of Haidar and Baha al Jazaeri were found in Hindiya district, 10 kilometres north of Karbala," a police source said. "The two bodies had their hands tied and were riddled with bullets."

North of the capital, an army official was shot dead as he bought petrol, the army said. "Unknown armed assailants opened fire on Friday on officer Baha Yunes as he was filling up at the Baquba black market," 60 kilometres north east of Baghdad, said an army spokesman.

"Yunes was killed and three civilians, including a five-year-old child, were wounded," he added. An Iraqi soldier died and five others were wounded in a bomb attack on Friday morning east of Samarra, 120kms north of Baghdad, police said.

Another soldier was killed and one wounded in a mortar attack on their base near Dhuluiya, 70kms north of the capital, the army said. Three civilians were killed and a child wounded in a roadside bomb blast north of Samarra. -AFP