Iraqi car bombs kill 17

BAGHDAD, Friday (Reuters) Four car bombs shook Baghdad after dawn on Thursday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens in the second wave of attacks within hours, police said.

The previous evening car bombs in a mainly Shi'ite district of the city killed 18 people, after a day of talks in Brussels between the new Shi'ite-led government, its U.S. backers and other nations. Islamist guerrillas claimed responsibility.

Despite a month-long crackdown by U.S. and Iraqi troops and police in Baghdad, al Qaeda allies and other Islamist militants have mounted major attacks on three days this week, while lower level violence is keeping up pressure on all security forces.

Police said a suicide car bomber killed three policemen and seven civilians when he drove at their patrol in the central commercial district of Karrada around 7 a.m. (0300 GMT). A second, similar attack killed seven civilians, they said. Two other cars exploded in the same area, several minutes apart, one near a Shi'ite mosque. Police and medical sources put the number of wounded at between 23 and 50.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunnah said in an Internet statement it had carried out the three bombings in a joint operation with the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army.