TIKRIT, Iraq - At least four people were killed and 12 wounded when a car bomb exploded in a small village between the cities of Tikrit and Baiji in central Iraq, according to police.
Police initially reported 12 dead, but then revised their toll downward.
Three of the dead were policemen who went up to examine the parked car which had a dead body inside. When a number of people had gathered around the car, it exploded.
The area around Baiji, Iraq's main oil refining town, has been a focus of insurgent activity in the last few months.
Another car bomb exploded earlier in Baghdad's traditional downtown market area killing three people and wounding 10, police said.
Black smoke poured into the air in the Shurjah area in the city center, next to the oldest market in Baghdad.
A second car bomb that had yet to detonate was found in the vicinity and a bomb disposal unit was brought in. A common insurgent tactic is to rig two bombs, one detonating after the other, in effort to inflict maximum casualties.
In another attack, a policeman and civilian were killed and 12 other people were wounded Thursday when a bomb targeting a police patrol exploded on Palestine Street in the east of the city.
Meanwhile, Iraqi police have found 38 bodies scattered around Baghdad over the past 24 hours.
The bodies had all been shot and most showed signs of torture, indicating they were the victims of sectarian death squads roaming the city.
Five corpses were found in the mostly Sunni southern suburb of Radwaniyah, while another three turned up in the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah.
Bodies showing signs of torture have regularly turned up on the streets of Baghdad for several months as sectarian tensions flare.
The attacks come despite a month-old security operation in Baghdad involving 50,000 US and Iraqi troops that was implemented by the new government in effort to restore stability to the city.
Iraqi police also reported finding 38 bodies scattered around Baghdad over the past 24 hours. All had been shot and most showed signs of torture, suggesting they were the victims of sectarian death squads roaming the city.
In Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, gunmen shot dead a police lieutenant as he left his house.
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