Many dead in attacks across Iraq

The car bomb in Baghdad killed at least six policemen

At least 31 people have been killed and more than 130 injured in a series of attacks by insurgents across Iraq.

In the biggest attack, a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi police officers and wounded more than 100 in the northern city of Irbil.

In the nearby city of Kirkuk, four Iraqi troops died when a suicide bomber rammed his car into their checkpoint.

At least 14 people were killed in other attacks, which included several car bombings in the capital, Baghdad.

More than 70 people have been killed in attacks in the last two days.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber killed 23 people - including six policemen - at a restaurant in the Iraqi capital.

More than 1,000 people - mostly Iraqi soldiers and police - have died in violence since the new Iraqi government was formed on 28 April.

Suicide car bombs

In the Irbil attack, the traffic police recruits were gathering for morning roll-call when the suicide bomber raced his car from a nearby building site.

MAJOR RECENT ATTACKS June 20: At least 31 Iraqis die in three separate attacks in Irbil, Kirkuk and Baghdad June 19: Suicide bomber kills at least 23 Iraqis in Baghdad restaurant June 16: Bomb kills five US marines near Ramadi June 15: At least 39 Iraqis killed in three separate attacks in and around Baghdad June 13: At least 11 Iraqis killed in attacks across the country June 11: Four US soldiers killed near Baghdad June 10: At least seven Iraqis killed in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Basra, while five US marines die in Haqlaniya June 7: At least 18 people killed in a series of bomb blasts around Hawija In pictures: Latest violence

Security forces desperately opened fire, but no-one could stop the car from exploding in the middle of the crowd.

Irbil was the scene of a suicide attack that killed about 60 people at a police recruitment centre in early May.

However the city has been relatively peaceful in recent weeks.

In another attack in the Kurdish region, a security chief in the town of Halabja and his three bodyguards were killed in a suicide car bombing, local officials said.

In one of several attacks in Baghdad, insurgents used two car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades in an assault on a police station in the south-western Baya area.

At least six police officers were killed and about 20 wounded, officials said.