Two bombers have struck in different parts ofTal Afar, killing at least 45 people and wounding scores more, BrigadierKarim al-Jubouri, a police spokesman, said.

The attacks on Tuesday were preceded by a suicide carbombing at a restaurant near Ramadi in Anbar province.

In total, more than 75 people werekilled in Iraqin the day's violence. 

In Tal Afar, bodies and wounded civilians were brought tohospital after the two vehicle-borne bombings. The attacks came justthree days after a marketplace suicide attack killed 10 people in the sametown, situated in northern Iraq closeto the Syriaborder. 

Soldiers waved one of the vehicles through into al-Wahaedadistrict of Tal Afar when they saw it was laden with food supplies, aftera one-week shortage.

The driver then blew up the vehicle, Ali Abboud, a doctor atthe hospital treating the wounded, said.

The other bombing took place in a parking space aroundthe same time, Jbouri said.

George Bush, the USpresident, last year held up Tal Afar as a model for US-led efforts to create astable Iraq.

Anbar attack

At least 17 people have been killed and dozenswounded after a suicide car bomb exploded outside a restaurant used by Iraqipolice on a main road north of Ramadi.

A high-ranking police officer was reported to be amongseveral policemen killed and wounded in the blast.

The blast, the latest in a string of such attacks in thewestern province of Anbar in recent months, struck an area wherelocal tribes have been opposing al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Two suicide car bombs also exploded near the home of atribal leader in the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad, killing the man's son and severalother people, a provincial official said.

Apparent target

Sheikh Thahir al-Dari, whose home was the apparent target,is the head of al-Zobaie tribe and belongs to a group opposed to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Ahmed al-Dulaimi, head of the provincial council mediaoffice in Anbar, said the sheikh's son was killed in Tuesday's double carbombing and there were several more casualties.

Salam al-Zobaie, Iraq's deputy prime minister,belongs to al-Dari's tribe.

The deputy prime minister survived an assassination bid lastweek.

Al-Zobaie was wounded in the attack at his home in Baghdad.

An aide said the suicide bomber was one of his own guards.

More violence

Mortar rounds slammed into a Shia area in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing atleast four people and wounding 14, while sectarian clashes erupted for a fourthconsecutive day south of the capital.

The mortar attack occurred in Abu Dasheer, a Shiaenclave in the Sunni-dominated Dora neighbourhood in southern Baghdad.Police said those killed included two children, a woman and a man.

In Iskandariyah, 50km south of Baghdad,suspected Shia fighters broke into a Sunni mosque and planted explosivesthat damaged the gate and a fence, the police said.

Clashes broke out about an hour later, leaving fourSunni fighters and one Shia fighter wounded.

The clashes were followed by a mortar attack on anearby Shia mosque.

The rounds landed in a courtyard and did not damage themosque, although a pedestrian was wounded.

A Shia man and his three sons also were wounded when amortar round struck their house in Haswa, about 5km east of Iskandariyah.

Source:Agencies