Roadside bombs in west Iraq kill six

The two blasts happened in quick succession in Falluja, in western Anbar province. One struck a police unit guarding the bank, as retirees queued up to collect their pensions, police said.

A second bomb detonated a few minutes later, hitting a police convoy that had arrived to evacuate casualties. Four policemen were among the dead.

Police did not say who was behind the attack, but Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda is often blamed for bombings in Anbar.

The US military has said Al Qaeda would try to stage a comeback in Anbar, where the militant group once controlled swathes of territory before Sunni Arab tribal leaders joined US forces in late 2006 to largely drive the gunmen out.

A suicide bomber last month killed 20 people in Anbar. An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The US military plans to transfer security control of Anbar to Iraqi forces soon, although no new date has been set after bad weather delayed a handover ceremony late last month.