BAGHDAD (BBC) -- At least 23 people have been killed and more than 80 injured in a wave of car bomb attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in and around Baghdad.

The apparently coordinated blasts come just a day after Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari unveiled his new cabinet.

No-one has admitted carrying out the attacks, the deadliest of which took place in Baghdad's Adhamiya area.

A tape purportedly from al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, calls for more attacks on U.S. forces.

Posted on a website, the taped message is delivered by a speaker identifying himself as the Jordanian militant. He vows not to let President George W. Bush enjoy "peace of mind".

Four of Friday's attacks happened in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Adhamiya at around 0800 (0400GMT), officials said.

The blasts went off within minutes of each other and targeted patrols of Iraqi police or national guards as well as a restaurant they frequent.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 wounded, many of them civilians, in this wave of attacks.

Cars were destroyed, shops gutted and pools of blood stained the streets of a district where insurgents have been active.

"Why are they killing innocent Iraqis? Why are they trying to set Sunnis and Shias apart?" one man inspecting the damage, Adnan Aziz Salman, said to Reuters news agency. "They should go and kill our occupiers. We don't care who our leaders are. We just want security."

A short while later, a bomb also exploded as an Iraqi army convoy passed through the east of the city. At least one soldier was killed and eight wounded.

As people gathered to investigate the blast, a second bomb exploded.

Three devices also went off close to a military checkpoint, a hospital and a post office in the town of Madain, 30km south of Baghdad.

Nine Iraqi troops were killed and 35 people, mostly civilians, were wounded, police said.

The town was recently taken over by Iraqi forces after reports that scores of Shia Muslims had been taken hostage by insurgents there.
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