The death toll of a double explosions outside a traffic police headquarters in central Baghdad on Wednesday rose to 18 and 52 people injured, an Interior Ministry source said.

"The toll of the car bomb and a roadside bomb attacks in Nahdha area rose to 18 killed and 52 injured," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place when a booby-trapped car detonated outside the headquarters near the al-Nahdha parking lot in central Baghdad on the east side of Tigris River, the source said.

Minutes later, a roadside bomb went off when security forces and civilians gathered to examine the first blast, the source added.

Three traffic policemen were among the killed and eight others were among the wounded people, he said.

Earlier, the source said that the total of at least six people were killed and more than 18 others wounded by the two blasts.

The powerful blasts also caused damages to several civilian cars, he added.

The attacks came as the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in Baghdad for an unannounced visit and announced with his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki that the British troops will withdraw from southern Iraq in the first half of 2009.

Despite the security gains in recent months in Iraq, there are still sporadic bombings, which shape setback to the Iraqi government.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)