Baghdad: Two car bombs rocked Baghdad today, killing 19 people and injuring 45 as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was winding up a two-day visit to the violent Iraqi capital, officials said.

A security official said the two bombs exploded almost simultaneously at the busy Al-Huriyah square in southeastern neighbourhood of Jadriyah, near an office which handles the affairs of tribal sheikhs from across Iraq.

"The latest toll we have is 19 people killed and 45 wounded," a defence ministry official told AFP. Witnesses said a group of tribal "Awakening" anti- Qaeda front members were outside the office at the time and were among the wounded.

The offices of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council headed by powerful politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim are also in the neighbourhood but were not believed to be the target of the attacks, the official said.

Awakening groups, made up mainly of Sunni former insurgents, have been battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq with the support of the US military for more than a year and have been the target of attack by various insurgent groups.

US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith yesterday claimed seized Al-Qaeda documents revealed that Osama bin Laden's jihadist network in Iraq has been weakened by the Awakening group, which it regards as its "most dangerous enemy."

A seized diary, Smith told reporters, "shows that Al- Qaeda regards these groups as a grave threat and the terrorists are increasingly targeting them."

Source : PTI