18 dead in Baghdad bomb blast

At least 18 people have been killed in two rush-hour bomb attacks in Baghdad.

Security officials say at least 13 people died when a roadside bomb blew up a minibus carrying government employees in eastern Baghdad.

In a separate incident, a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the city's heavily guarded Green Zone, killing five people, police said.

The secure area houses foreign embassies, government offices and the Iraqi parliament.

Initial reports say many others have been wounded in the attacks.

Hospital and police sources are quoted as saying that the 13 killed in the roadside bomb were all female employees in Iraq's trade ministry.

Less than an hour later, a female suicide bomber detonated explosives in a queue of people waiting to enter the Green Zone on their way to work, security officials said.

The Iraqi intelligence service said the five people killed included two of its staff.

"Two women employees of the intelligence services were killed and six guards were wounded in the attack this morning. This attack targeted our checkpoint," a spokesman said, adding that one of the women was pregnant