BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Iraq was engulfed in a wave of violence on Thursday, with suicide attackers and bombings killing 26 people including three US soldiers, a day after huge blast in a Baghdad Shiite area left 40 dead.

The spike in attacks comes as the US military prepares to decamp from the nation's cities and towns by June 30 and has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war three years ago.

The main target of Thursday's attacks was Baghdad, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a crowded market in the southern Dora district, killing at least 12 people and wounding 25, security officials said.

The bomber targeted a US foot patrol that was passing through a popular Assyrian Christian market in the confessionally mixed area, officials from the interior and defence ministry told AFP.

Three American soldiers were killed in a blast that US army major Dave Shoupe said was caused by an "improvised explosive device".

Shoupe confirmed that US soldiers had also been injured, but could not provide a figure, and also said it was unclear whether the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.

Since the US-led invasion in March 2003 a total of 4,299 American troops have died, according to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.org.

The market attack came soon after a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin inside a Baghdad police station, killing three policemen and injuring 20, among then 12 officers and eight civilians, officials told AFP.

The day began on a bloody note when a suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Qaeda militia in the tense northern city and oil hub of Kirkuk as they were lining up to receive their salaries, police said.

The bloodletting has sparked fears of a return of Al-Qaeda-style attacks aimed at reigniting the sectarianism that swept the country two years ago.

Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, called for national unity in the wake of the violence.

"The evil and criminal powers are back once again to continue their criminal actions against our patient people," he said in a statement.

"We call upon our people to unite, to not give in to the enemies of Iraq who are trying to undermine our unity."

The bombing in Kirkuk occurred inside a building under the control of the Iraqi army, where anti-Qaeda fighters belonging to groups known as Sahwa, or Awakening, had gathered to receive pay cheques, police major Salam Zangana told AFP.

"A suicide bomber dressed in a Sahwa uniform blew himself up at a Sahwa gathering near Kirkuk's technical college. They were waiting to receive their salaries," he said.

Thursday's attacks follow a huge car bombing in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad late Wednesday that killed at least 40 people and injured 83.

Diners and shoppers were enjoying a night out at the Al-Sadrain interchange that is popular for its eateries and shops when the powerful bomb went off.

The attack in Shula, a poor Shiite area in northwestern Baghdad, was the bloodiest since April 29 when more than 50 people were killed in a spate of synchronised bombings -- also in mostly Shiite districts of the capital

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest bombings but Al-Qaeda insurgents regularly target civilians and also try to kill Sahwa members, whom it brands traitors, especially in ethnically mixed parts of Iraq such as Kirkuk.

The oil-rich city, which has a Kurdish majority but substantial Arab and Turkmen minorities, has been the frequent scene of deadly ethnic tension since Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was toppled in the 2003 invasion.

The Sahwa movement began in late 2006 when local tribes and former insurgents started turning on Al-Qaeda in Iraq and allying with the US military, and today it counts about 92,000 fighters across the country.

The mainly Sunni militias have played a crucial role in ousting the Islamists of Al-Qaeda from their former strongholds.

April saw a string of deadly attacks in Shiite and mixed neighbourhoods of the capital that were reminiscent of attacks that occurred at the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006.

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