Deadly car bomb blasts in Baghdad

A Baghdad police station was among Sunday's bombing targets

At least four people have been killed in two car bomb blasts in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

One went off early on Sunday near Tahrir Square, a busy shopping area in the centre of the city. It killed at least three people and injured 15.

In another part of Baghdad, a bomb near a police station killed one officer and wounded several other people.

The blasts come days after figures suggested a new security operation in Baghdad had not diminished violence.

On Friday the Iraqi health ministry said its final count for violent deaths in Baghdad in August stood at 1,536.

That was nearly three times the ministry's earlier estimate. Correspondents say this indicates a nearly undiminished level of sectarian and insurgent killings.

The health ministry's figures are compiled from reports by hospitals and mortuaries in Baghdad area.

Last month the US military spokesman in Iraq, Maj Gen William Caldwell, said the rate of violent deaths in Baghdad had fallen significantly from July to August.