Wave of Baghdad bomb attacks

No group has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombs in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials said.

At least 33 people died and dozens were injured when a string of car bombs went off across the city.

The attacks come a day after the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised to increase security in the capital following a wave of attacks on government personnel.

One of the five car bomb attacks which have killed at least 33 people in Baghdad was within metres of the Green Zone, eyewitnesses said.

It is one in a string of attacks by insurgents on this highly fortified part of Baghdad.

• Green Zone is the common name for a 10 square kilometre site in the centre of Baghdad which houses the coalition government buildings.
• Surrounded by a seventeen foot high concrete fence it was where the key diplomats from the international community where based.

The Washington Post reports it is now "largely deserted" as international forces withdraw from Iraq.

At least 33 people were killed and scores wounded as a wave of bomb attacks hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, police sources said.

The figure was revised down from the previously reported death toll of 42.

The government has put the death toll far lower - saying three people were killed and 44 wounded in the attacks, which targeted markets and commercial streets.

More: 'At least 42 killed' in Baghdad explosions