Eds: Updates casualties, adds detail
The north-eastern Iraqi city of Baquba was hit by four bomb blasts on Wednesday, police said - including one targeting ambulances carrying the wounded from the two earlier attacks, DPA reported.
Police told the German Press Agency dpa that the attacks, which came amid a spike in violence ahead of Iraq's March 7 parliamentary elections, killed at least 29 people and injured 42 more.
The first two car bombings had targeted a police station and a car park in the city centre, not far from the seat of the provincial government, police said.
A man then detonated explosives strapped to his body in Baquba's main hospital as ambulances arrived carrying the wounded from those blasts, police said, adding that the bomber had infiltrated the hospital by wearing a police uniform.
Soon after, police found another car bomb near a police checkpoint in the city. Security officials cleared the area before it exploded, police told dpa.
Baquba, some 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala province, which lies on the border of Iran. The province has been the site of attacks against Iranian pilgrims visiting Iraq, and of an uneasy standoff between Kurdish militias in the north of the province and forces from Iraq's central government in Baghdad.