Baghdad, 08/23 - A spate of overnight and early Monday bombings in Baghdad killed three people, including a police officer and an army oldier, and wounded 20, police officials said.

The strikes came a week before all but 50,000 US troops leave Iraq, a military drawdown that has raised fears the country's already-shaky security will become even less safe.

Baghdad police said unknown attackers in a speeding car threw the grenade in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood of New Baghdad in the capital's east around 6:30 a.m. Monday.

The blast killed one policeman and wounded another, a city police official said.