A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad today, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building, in a surge of violence that has left at least 127 people dead since a new government was formed last week. A British soldier died in fighting in southern Iraq.

A day after insurgents killed at least 36 Iraqis in a series of attacks, including the bombing of a funeral, militants set off three explosions in Baghdad today, including one that narrowly missed a top Iraqi security official, police said.

US and Iraqi forces killed 85 militants at a suspected training camp along the marshy shores of a remote lake, one of the highest guerrilla death tolls of the two-year insurgency, officials said.

A CAR bomb exploded yesterday near the Ministry of Education in a busy Baghdad commercial area, killing at least eight people and wounding 29 others, officials said.