Baghdad - At least nine people were killed and 25 injured on Friday in a motorbike bomb explosion in central Baghdad, a security source said.

The motorbike, packed with explosives, went off near al-Nahda garage in central Baghdad, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The attack comes a few days before the US withdrawal from the Iraqi cities.

It also comes after a series of deadly explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital Baghdad in the past few days.

On Thursday, nine people, including four civilians, were killed in two bombings in Iraq

On Wendnesday a devastating bomb attack at a market in Sadr City killed 74, and injured hundreds.

In the western Iraqi city of Falluja, five Iraqi soldiers were killed, also on Thursday, when an explosive device blew up while they were on patrol, security sources said.

Nine further soldiers were wounded in that attack.