Baghdad: A double bombing struck at an upscale neighbourhood Iraq’s capital on Tuesday, killing at least 21 even though police stopped three attackers storming a counter-terror unit, as the government strained to control al Qaeda-based chaos gripping the country.

The bloody explosions came on the same day that Iraq’s government discussed security issues with Iran, a measure of Tehran’s growing influence.

Two cars parked in the mostly-Shiite shopping district of Karradah exploded during the afternoon rush hour. Most of the dead were store owners and passers-by, although the blasts hit near two police headquarters and a security checkpoint, killing six policemen.

The bombs sent plumes of black smoke over the neighbourhood, located across the Tigris River from the Green Zone, and the sounds of gunshots could be heard from blocks away.

The violence brought the July death toll to 245 people killed in shootings and bombings, approaching the carnage in January, when 255 people were killed following the US pullout.

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for nearly all the attacks as it seeks to take advantage of political instability in Iraq and move back into areas it was forced to abandon before the US military left the country last December.

Security forces and government offices are top targets for insurgents seeking to prove how unsafe Iraq remains.

The second bomb exploded outside an Iraqi passport office, a few blocks away from the Interior Ministry’s major crimes unit headquarters. Fifteen people were killed and 35 wounded, officials said.

Saadoun Hussein was selling cigarettes in a small shop nearby when the roof partially caved in from the second blast. He escaped unharmed.

“I think that terrorists were intending to attack the passport directorate, but failed to reach their target because of