Multiple bombings rock Baghdad

At least six people have been killed in a wave of bombings in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Four police officers and one civilian were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a car outside a police station in the southern al-Amil district on Sunday morning.

About a dozen of others were injured when the attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a gathering of police during a shift change.

Just 10 minutes before the attack, a bomb stuck to the underside of a car in the city's central Allawi al-Hillah area blew up the vehicle, killing the driver and wounding three passengers, according to police and hospital officials.

In another incident, two bombs went off on Sunday in eastern Baghdad, without any deaths reported.

A car bomb exploded near a police patrol, wounding six policemen, and a roadside bomb exploded near a car carrying the judge of an appeals court, injuring two people.

Although overall violence in Iraq has has dropped dramatically across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain frequent.

Iraqi authorities have said 275 civilians were killed in bomb blasts and other attacks in May and 274 in April, up from 216 in March and 211 in February.

Tensions have been high since the March 7 parliamentary election that produced no clear winner, forcing negotiations between Iraq's Shia Muslim, Sunni Muslim and Kurdish political factions to agree a new government.

The Iraqiya bloc of Iyad Allawi, a former prime minister, narrowly won elections in March, beating the coalition led by Nouri al-Maliki, the incumbent prime minister.