Iraqi violence killed at least 40 people as Kurds in the autonomous north swore in former rebel leader Massoud Barzani as their first president.
The US military said a rocket-propelled grenade killed one soldier and wounded two more in Baghdad, bringing US military deaths since the 2003 invasion to 1,698, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.
In the deadliest attack on Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of civil servants waiting for paychecks at a branch of Al-Rafidain bank in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 20 people, police said. Another 81 were wounded.
A statement posted on the Internet in the name of the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna group said it carried out the attack against the "infidel" police.
It warned potential recruits: "We will follow you everywhere, whether you are wearing military fatigues or civilian clothes."
The bombers struck shortly before Barzani was sworn in as Kurdish president in nearby Arbil and targeted a bitterly contested city that the Kurds want as capital of an expanded autonomous region.
Car bombs
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber slammed into two police cars on patrol in eastern Baghdad yesterday, killing eight police officers and injuring 13 bystanders, police said. Two police cars were set on fire and the third was damaged in the attack, which occurred in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood.
North of Baghdad, another car bomb killed 10 more Iraqis, including two children, and wounded seven, security and hospital sources said.
Troops had been called in to reinforce a police station in the town of Kanaan that was under mortar attack, a police officer said. They were hit by the car bomb parked nearby.
Near Ramadi, US troops killed five Iraqi civilians and wounded four others on Tuesday, believing their car to be a bomb, a US military statement said.
The deaths followed a car bomb attack at their military checkpoint that had killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded another, it added.
"Regrettably, there were five civilians killed and four wounded as a result of their vehicles' charging the entry control point," the statement said.
In the northern city of Arbil, Barzani, son of the Kurdish nationalist hero Mullah Mustafa Barzani, was sworn in as president before the 111-member regional assembly.
"I promise to safeguard the accomplishments of Kurdistan and to carry out my duties faithfully," Barzani told the gathering, which included Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, who headed a rival Kurdish rebel group.
A giant portrait of Barzani's father watched over the assembly, flanked by red, white, yellow and green Kurdish flags.
Hostage freed
In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard announced yesterday that Australian hostage Douglas Wood had been rescued from his captors after a six-week ordeal.
Howard told parliament that Wood was in the hands of the Australian authorities in Baghdad and was undergoing medical checks, but was well.
"I am delighted to inform the house the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr Douglas Wood, is safe from his captors," Howard said.
Howard did not detail how Wood was released but an Iraqi government spokesman in Baghdad said Iraqi soldiers had helped in the operation that freed the Australian.
Howard said the Australian had "suffered immensely" during his captivity.
He said no ransom was paid to secure Wood's release and the hostage drama had not impacted on Australia's commitment to the US-led campaign in Iraq.
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