A roadside bomb and then a car bomb were detonated in a busy commercial area near a gold market in the town center. Many of the casualties from the blasts, which hit an area with a bus station, restaurants and barber shops, were women and children.

The governor of Wasit province, Latif Hamid al-Turfah, said the death toll stood at 2, with 63 wounded.

While violence in Iraq has fallen in the last three years, bombings are still a daily occurrence, with militants believed to be exploiting a political vacuum in the country nearly five months after an inconclusive general election.

Earlier on the same day, gunmen linked to al Qaeda overran a security checkpoint in the capital Baghdad, killing five policemen, an Interior Ministry source said.

The insurgents used silenced weapons to attack the checkpoint after dawn and raised the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda affiliate, above it after the assault.

The attack took place in the Mansour district just after three mortar rounds hit the area, the source said. No one was hurt by the barrage.

A Baghdad military commander said the officers were killed by a grenade attack.

Nearly 400 civilians were killed in bombings and other attacks in July, almost double the June toll, Iraqi authorities say.

Tens of thousands of people were killed during the height of Iraq's sectarian slaughter in 2006-07.