Baghdad - Eleven people were reported killed Wednesday in violence in central and northern Iraq, with the largest number killed in a double car bombing in western Baghdad, police said.

Eight died and 25 were injured when two cars loaded with explosives detonated in front of a hospital in the Iraqi capital's al-Harithya neighbourhood, Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

Earlier, on the outskirts of Kirkuk, unidentified gunmen fired on a civilian vehicle killing three Iraqis, police said.

Another person as injured in that incident which took place 250 kilometres north of the capital on the main road between Kirkuk and the south-west district of al-Rashad on Tuesday night.

In the northern province of Salahaddin, six Iraqi civilians were injured when a roadside bomb went off in a marketplace in the central Baiji district. Four gunmen abducted a shopkeeper in the same market.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani told the Al-Sabah newspaper that a long-term security agreement with the United States could take a while in coming as it required legislation to regulate ratification by parliament.

Mashhadani added that the parliamentary law, which is still being drafted, had to be agreed upon by two-thirds of the parliament.

The US and Iraq are attempting to hammer down conditions upon which US troops could remain in Iraq. The Iraqi government previously stated that it would not apply for any extension of the United Nations mandate that granted foreign troops extensive decision-making power in the country.

The planned agreement is also to specify when the last US troops would leave Iraq. (dpa)