A wave of bomb attacks across Iraq killed at least 26 people on Monday, security and medical officials said.

A wave of bomb attacks across Iraq killed at least 26 people on Monday, security and medical officials said.

Two car bombs exploded in the main southern port city of Basra, killing 13 people and wounding 48, while at least eight bombs hit Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 102.

In Samarra, north of Baghdad, a car bomb killed two Sahwa anti-Qaeda fighters and wounded 12, while a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul wounded three people.

Throughout these two days, bombings and attacks intensified, killing at least 50, among them 24 police, as security sharply deteriorates in Anbar province, AFP quoted officials as saying on Monday.

The police elements were killed Sunday night as they carried out a joint raid to free kidnapped police in Anbar, but clashes broke out.

Twelve kidnapped police were killed and four wounded during the raid, though it was not immediately clear if they were caught in the crossfire, killed by their abductors, or a combination of the two.

In Haditha, a town in Anbar province, gunmen attacked a police station, killing eight police, among them two officers.

Moreover, gunmen killed four police and wounded three in an attack on another police station in the town of Rawa, also in Anbar, AFP quoted Qais Al-Rawi, head of the area's local council, as saying.