Baghdad - Iraqi police on Tuesday killed a would-be suicide bomber, while six people were injured in separate explosions in Baghdad, Mosul and Baquba.

Police forces gunned down a suicide bomber before he could detonate himself near a security patrol in al-Yarmook neighbourhood in the southern section of Mosul city, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

A policeman was wounded as a result of the blast that occurred when the explosives strapped to the bomber's body went off, the source added.

Mosul, the capital city of Nineveh province, lies some 400 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad.

In Baghdad, two civilians were wounded when an explosive charge went off on a main road, a security source said.

The blast occurred in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Zayouna, the source told Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

The source did not provide further details.

In Baquba city, three civilians were wounded in an explosive charge blast that targeted the headquarters of the National Movement for Reform and Development. The explosion which took place in Baquba's downtown al-Jadeeda neighborhood also caused severe damage to four vehicles belonging to the movement.

Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province, lies 57 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.

Separately, one US serviceman died as a result of non-combat injuries in northern Iraq, raising the number of US fatalities in 2009 to eight, the US Department of Defence said on Tuesday.

The death brings the number of US soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 to 4,229. (dpa)