Five die in Baghdad bus bombing

Meanwhile, reports from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul say 10 people were shot dead in several separate incidents on Thursday and Friday.

The explosion in central Baghdad took place in the Tayaran Square as many people were heading to Friday prayers.

Police said the man had detonated a belt of explosives strapped to his body beneath his clothes.

The target of the attack was apparently heading for the predominantly Shia area of Sadr City.

Mosul attacks

Police in Mosul said three of the dead there were members of the Turkmen Front, a group that campaigns for the rights of the minority Turkmen ethnic group.

A policeman was killed on Thursday by gunmen in the city, the police added.

Meanwhile, medical officials in the city have said that six bodies of people who were shot dead were found on Thursday and Friday in different parts of Mosul.

In other violence:

• In the small town of Haswa, 50km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded four in an attack on an army checkpoint on Friday

• The US military said on Friday that two US soldiers were killed and a third wounded in two attacks on Thursday.