JNN 19 April 2011 : At least nine people have lost their lives and 23 others have been wounded after two car bombs exploded in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, security officials say.

The attacks took place at around 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday near a security checkpoint at the entrance of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, the officials added.

Many foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices are located in the city’s strategic area.

According to the Associated Press, five Iraqi soldiers were among the casualties. The police also said that 13 Iraqi troops were among the wounded.

“The two cars have burned. They were queuing in a line to enter the Green Zone,” he said. “It’s possible they were carrying either roadside bombs or they were packed with explosives and driven by suicide bombers.”

Several cars also caught fire due to the twin car bombs, the report says.

On Wednesday, one civilian was killed and 16 others, including three children, were injured in a car bomb blast in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

A senior Iraqi police official, Colonel Kamel Ahmad, said that the explosion happened near Sulaimaniya restaurant in Raas al-Damiz region in southern Kirkuk.

“One man was killed and 16 others, including three children, two women and three policemen, wounded,” the officer said.

“The four wounded persons are in critical condition,” Ahmad further explained.

A separate attack involving two roadside bombs in the upscale residential neighbourhood of Jadriyah in east Baghdad left five more people wounded, three of them members of the security forces, the interior ministry official added.

Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in recent years but armed fighters still carry out daily attacks

The new wave of violence came as there are about 47,000 US troops in the war-torn country to provide security for Iraqi people.