Baghdad - A wave of bombings in Iraq left at least five dead and dozens more wounded in Baghdad and areas to the west of the capital on Tuesday, police and witness said.

As the day broke, a powerful explosion killed at least two people instantly and left more than five others wounded in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa.

The blast targeted construction workers who had gathered early in the morning looking for work for the day, they said.

Soon after, twin bomb blasts wounded a total of at least 10 people at traffic intersections in the central Baghdad neighbourhoods of Karada and Makat, police said.

At least four people were wounded in the Karada bombing, and at least six were wounded in the Makat attack, they said.

At a restaurant by the side of a highway near Ramadi, some 118 kilometres west of the capital, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded more than 19 others, police there told dpa.

The explosion took place near the village of Abu Dhiab, north of Ramadi, at a restaurant catering to travelers, police said, adding that they had cordoned off the area and were searching for those responsible.

The car bombing was the latest in a wave of similar attacks in the area.

On Monday, Police General Tariq al-Assil, head of police in western al-Anbar Province, of which Ramadi is the capital, said two of his men had been killed, and at least four wounded, as they attempted to defuse a car bomb in Ramadi.

The attack took place on the road leading to the seat of al- Anbar's provincial government around the time the city's mayor, Qassim Mohammed, normally goes to work, police said.

On Sunday, a US marine was killed in the area in a "combat-related incident as a result of enemy action," a statement by the military said.

Also on Sunday, Mahmoud al-Jabalawi, the leader of the local Sunni, government-aligned Sahwa, or "Awakening," militia for the district of al-Mada'in, 15 kilometres south of Baghdad, was killed by a roadside bomb.

"The Sahwa (militias) are caught between the hammer and the anvil, targeted by terrorist groups," Amr al-Hijal, a Sunni member of parliament, said after al-Jabalawi's death.

Earlier Sunday, an Iraqi soldier was killed and six people were wounded in two bomb attacks in Abu Ghraib, just west of the Iraqi capital, police said.

Al-Jabalawi's murder followed an assassination attempt against Sheikh Naim Salih al-Halubsi, the leader of the local Sahwa in Karama, near Faluja.

Three of al-Halubsi's bodyguards, including his son, were killed in the attack, police said. (dpa)