Twenty-five people were killed as two car bombs ripped through a group of policemen outside the local governor's home in the central Iraqi city of Diwaniyah on Tuesday, officials said.
A medical source at the main hospital in Diwaniyah, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad, said most of the casualties were police.
"Two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously near the governor's home in Diwaniyah, killing 25 people and wounding more than 30," a defence ministry official told AFP.
It was not immediately known if Salam Hussein Alwan, governor of the province -- also named Diwaniyah -- was among the casualties.
The hospital source said they received 20 bodies and admitted 35 wounded following the attack, which occurred at 7:45 a.m. (04:45 GMT). "Most of the casualties are policemen," he told AFP.
Casualty figures often differ in the immediate aftermath of an attack in Iraq, due to the ensuing chaos and confusion.
The bombs exploded at a police barrier about 30 metres (100 feet) outside the governor's home.
Attacks against government officials have shot up in recent months, as Iraqi leaders bicker over key security posts left vacant since a March 2010 general election.
The car bombs were part of a string of blasts on Tuesday in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq that killed at least four people and wounded 16, including two policemen and three soldiers, interior and defence ministry sources said.
The bombings followed a spate of gun and bomb attacks on Monday, including a blast next to a French embassy car that wounded seven Iraqis. Four French security personnel inside the armoured vehicle escaped unhurt.
Monday's attacks killed an army officer and a policeman who were gunned down in different districts of Baghdad, and the mayor of the town of Al-Shar in central Baquba province, shot dead as gunmen raided his home.
Violence is down in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed in clashes between Sunni and Shiite Arabs and in insurgent attacks, but attacks have risen since the beginning of this year.
The rise in violence comes with only months to go before US troops, in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, are due to complete a pullout under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
Eight US soldiers have been killed on duty this month.
An Al-Qaeda-style raid by gunmen against government offices in the central city of Baquba on June 14 killed seven people.
Private security firm AKE Group said this month that attacks have been on the rise since the start of the year, with violent incidents averaging more than 10 a day in May, up from four to five a day in January.
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