BAGHDAD, June 28: A car bomb killed 25 people on Thursday at a busy intersection in Baghdad where minibuses pick up and drop off passengers, while 20 beheaded bodies were found on a river bank south of the capital, Iraqi police said.

Another car bomb in Baghdad targeting motorists queuing for petrol killed five people, police said. Mortar bombs also killed four people in two separate neighbourhoods in the city.

In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed three British soldiers and seriously wounded another in the early hours of Thursday, the British military said.

The latest attacks underscore the strength of militants in Iraq despite the arrival of 28,000 additional US troops. The unrelenting violence is pushing Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war between majority Shias and minority Sunni Arabs.

The deadliest car bomb in Baghdad exploded in the Shi'a district of Bayaa. The blast, which went off during the morning rush hour, wounded 40 people and destroyed dozens of vehicles.

The Bayaa area in southwest Baghdad has been a frequent target of car bombs blamed on Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda.“It was a horrible explosion. Many, many people have been killed,” said witness Aqeel Kadhim, saying pickup trucks and ambulances rushed to take away the dead and wounded.—Reuters