BAGHDAD, Dec 12: Roadside blasts wounded two Polish sappers in Iraq and killed an Iraqi policeman on Friday as US overseer Paul Bremer predicted an upsurge in attacks in the six months leading up to the country’s independence.

The policeman died and another was injured when a bomb that was apparently targeting a US convoy some 200 metres away exploded south of Baghdad, also wounding two civilians, an officer said.

Separately, a homemade bomb wounded two Polish bomb disposal experts, one seriously, as another convoy drove by, also south of Baghdad, a multinational force spokesman said.

A troop transporter, a Humvee all-terrain vehicle, two civilian cars and an Iraqi ambulance were halted on the roadside. A US helicopter flew in and out rapidly.

An correspondent reported a second blast shortly after against a second Polish convoy, which escaped with just a burst tyre.

A series of explosions also peppered the US headquarters in Baghdad early Friday.

Four explosions followed by two loud blasts had rung out in succession about half past midnight in Baghdad followed by another big boom Friday morning.

Mr Bremer told Friday’s New York Times: “We’ll have bad days and good days. My own guess is we’re going to have an increase in violence over the next six months.”

“The violence will be precisely because of the fact that we’re building momentum toward success,” Bremer said.

Two journalists from the US weekly newsmagazine Time, including renowned war photographer James Nachtwey, were wounded by a grenade explosion while taking part in a military patrol in Baghdad.—AFP