A senior Saudi militant on Riyadh's most wanted list has been killed in battles against American forces in Iraq, according to a group calling itself al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In a statement posted on the internet, the group said that Abdullah Mohammad al-Roshoud had been killed in fighting in Qaim in Iraq.

Mr al-Roshoud is one of three Saudi fugitives who remain at large from a list of 26 senior al Qaeda militants accused of carrying out murderous attacks in Saudi Arabia.

The al-Qaeda group in Iraq is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with multi-million dollar bounty on his head.

The small victory for American forces came as three car bombs killed at least 15 people and wounded 50 more in Baghdad this morning, including a boy who appeared to have lost a leg.

The co-ordinated attack on the central Baghdad shopping district of Karradah followed last night's bloodshed that included four car bombs within 15 minutes of each other, killing at least 23 people in the Shula district of western Baghdad.

Police said a suicide car bomber killed three policemen and wounded two when he drove at their patrol at around 7am (0300 GMT). Two other cars exploded in the same area, each several minutes apart, one close to a Shia mosque.

Most residents of Karradah and Shula are from Iraq’s Shia majority, while the insurgents are almost exclusively Sunni Arabs.

The attacks on both days were carried out at times when many people are on the streets. Last night’s bombs came hours before an 11pm curfew when many residents were out chatting over meals before locking themselves in their homes.

Today’s explosions took place when many were just beginning their daily routines. The attacks in Karradah happened nearly simultaneously, police Lieutenant Colonel Salman Abdul Karim and officer Ahmed Hatam Al-Sharie said.

A young boy, his left leg missing from below the knee, sat on the sidewalk near a mangled bicycle, screaming as a man tried to comfort him. The force of the blasts blew off store shutters, and the surrounding pavements were covered with debris, including shattered glass, concrete slabs and charred vegetables and fruit.

Black smoke and flame darkened the morning sky. A bus lay blackened and blood-stained outside a post office. A few trees were toppled, scattering leaves.

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president