Military leaders have expressed concerns that militants might ramp up attacks as the 39,000 US troops left in Iraq pack up to leave.

The explosions occurred outside three cafes on a street in central Basra where people gather in the evening to smoke a water pipe and play dominoes and backgammon.

Ali al-Maliki, head of the Basra provincial council's security committee, said eight people were killed and 22 others wounded. Brigadier Faisal al-Abadi, head of Basra police, put the toll at two killed and 30 wounded.

Basra is 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Iraq's capital Baghdad.

United States President Barack Obama said on October 21 that all US forces would withdraw from Iraq by the year-end in accordance with a 2008 security pact.

The number of civilians killed in violence in Iraq climbed sharply in October following a string of suicide and roadside bombings in Baghdad. Attacks have also increased against Iraq's army and police.