Baghdad  - Police in Iraq on Sunday said they have arrested 21 men, many of them wanted for links to al-Qaeda, in connection with a string of recent bomb attacks and plotting further attacks.

Fourteen of the suspects were netting in a raid on the central city of Hilla, some 100 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad, according to police in Hilla. Seven more were captured in the nearby town of al-Askandariya.

Police said many of the men were wanted of charges of belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist group. The 21 are suspected of involvement in a series of attacks in Hilla in recent months.

On Thursday, a pair of bombs exploded in a market in Hilla, killing two people and injuring at least 21. Witnesses said the bombings followed a gunfight between militants and police.  dpa