Twenty-three people have been killed in two car bomb attacks in Iraq, officials said, according to Breakingnews.ie.

Police said 18 people were killed and 32 others injured when a pick-up truck carrying vegetables exploded in a market in Samarrah, 60 miles (95km) north of the capital, Baghdad.

A second car bomb went off in Abu Ghraib, on the western outskirts of the city, killing five people and wounding eight. Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in attacks in Iraq since April, when the pace of killing accelerated to levels unseen since 2008.