Baghdad  - An explosive device went off in central Baquba on Sunday, leaving three people dead and 43 people injured, including the city's mayor, according to police sources.

The device, which was placed inside a shop in the market, targeted the mayor, who was touring the area with other officials. He was transferred to the US forces hospital in the northern city, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Earlier on Sunday, one policeman was killed and four others injured in two separate bomb attacks in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to a security source cited by the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Kirkuk's police chief meanwhile said that a security plan for Kirkuk province was being prepared for the Muslim holiday of Eid al- Adha, which starts Monday.

The plan aims to provide residents with a secure atmosphere during the festival, he said.

In Mosul, armed clashes between unknown gunmen and Iraqi police left one policeman dead and six civilians injured, sources told dpa.

The Defence Ministry said that its forces have arrested a senior leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in western Mosul.

A defence ministry statement said that "the detainee admitted to committing several crimes, including killing 25 innocent citizens".

Meanwhile, Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said his country will start negotiations with Britain on an agreement for the withdrawal of British troops from the country.

"Iraq will start a series of negotiations with the British side to sign a deal on the withdrawal of British forces and the deal will be referred to parliament to pass it or turn it down," Rubaie told reporters during his visit to the holy Shiite city of Karbala.

He did not reveal when the negations will start.

Rubaie added that two cabinet committees under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had been formed to follow up on the plan for withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Last week, the Iraqi parliament approved a US security pact that authorizes US troops' presence after the UN mandate under which they are operating expires. It also sets a timeline for US withdrawal from Iraq.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) states that US forces will exit Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and leave the country entirely by 2011.

Britain, the main ally to the US in the war on Iraq, has 4,100 soldiers stationed in the British base at the Basra International Airport, 25 kilometres north-west of the city. (dpa)