More than two dozen Iraqi civilians and policemen have been killed in a wave of bombings Wednesday in Baghdad and parts of central and northern Iraq meant to intimidate voters less than two weeks ahead of national elections.

Five bomb attacks were carried out in Baghdad. Wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group (al-Qaida in Iraq) claimed responsibility for four of them, including one outside the Australian embassy.

The U.S. military reported at least 26 people were killed and many others wounded in those blasts. North of the capital, in Kirkuk, police say a human rights activist and a relative were killed, while in Irbil, a bomb targeted the convoy of the police academy chief, killing a bystander.

And in Dohuk, the provincial governor escaped injury when a bomb hit his convoy. A policeman was also killed in a car bombing south of Baghdad, near Hilla.