An interior ministry official gave an initial death toll of six dead and said all those killed were Shiite pilgrims.

Dr Laith Sharifi, an official of the provincial health department, later said 10 people were killed and 50 wounded, with women and children among the victims.

"The new toll for the victims is 10 dead. The wounded are 50. There are women and children among both the dead and wounded," he said.

Another doctor said that of the wounded, 10 were in serious condition.

In other attacks across Iraq on Monday, gunmen killed two anti-Qaeda militiamen in the northern city of Kirkuk, while a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a military officer. An intelligence official, two guards and eight civilians were wounded in explosions.

The car bomb targeting pilgrims exploded at 8:30 AM (0530 GMT) at a bus terminal at the Al-Ibrahimi area, 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) east of Karbala, said Nusayef Jassem, the provincial vice chief.

Three car bombs last Thursday went off around 20 minutes apart on the outskirts of Karbala, killing 45 people and wounding 150.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are descending on the city for Arbaeen ceremonies, held to mark 40 days since the anniversary of the death of the revered seventh century Imam Hussein, which climax on Tuesday.

Monday's attacks come amid a surge of violence in Iraq, with blasts in the past week, which included suicide bombs, killing at least 126 people and wounding scores more.

By comparison, a total of 151 people were killed throughout December.

In Baghdad on Monday, a home-made bomb killed Brigadier General Thamer Hassan Saleh, who worked for services linked to the prime minister's office, an interior ministry official said.

The bomb, detonated close to the general's home in the Ghazaliyah district in western Baghdad, also wounded a member of the intelligence services.

In the Al-Shuala neighbourhood in northwestern Baghdad, eight people were wounded by an improvised bomb that exploded near a petrol station, the official said.

Another improvised bomb targetted a convoy transporting the governor of northern Salaheddin province Ahmed Abdullah Abid to work, the official said. He was unharmed, but two guards were wounded.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, meanwhile, gunmen killed two militiamen of the Sahwa (Awakening) forces that turned against Al-Qaeda and sided with the US military from late 2006, a police official said.

He identified them as Qatia Saad Jouri al-Obaiki, a Sahwa leader, and the other militiaman as Muhammed Fanar al-Obaidi, saying they were killed in a dawn attack at the al-Hameera village south of Kirkuk.

On Sunday, an Al-Qaeda front group in Iraq claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombings north of Baghdad last week that cost more than 60 lives.

The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), according to a US group which monitors Islamist websites, said its suicide bombers carried out the attacks in Baquba and Tikrit.

The attacks had targeted Iraqi security forces and the provincial council of Diyala, of which Baquba is the capital, that it said was attempting "to spread the Shiite doctrine" in the central Iraqi province.

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