An Iraqi soldier was killed and eight people injured when a bomb exploded this morning in an area where 36 hours earlier people were dancing in the streets celebrating the Iraqi security forces taking control of Baghdad.

The bombing, near the riverside parks of Abu Nuwas street in the Karrada district, was the first in Baghdad since the official handover of all Iraqi urban areas by US officials on June 30.

Later in the day a car bomb on the road heading south out of Baghdad killed at least two people and wounded 15, and several people were killed in bombs and drive-by shootings in Mosul, Kirkuk and Fallujah.

The attacks come amid much nervousness about security, as the Iraqi Prime Minister and US and Iraqi security officials have warned that militant groups are likely to see the handover as an opportunity for violence.

On the same day as the handover, a car bomb killed more than 30 people in Kirkuk, and with large-scale attacks in Baghdad and Taza, a town near Kirkuk, the death toll for last month jumped to about double that of the previous month.

According to an Associated Press tally, at least 447 Iraqi civilians were killed in June, and the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has warned of more violence to come after the US pullout.

A Defence Ministry representative said today that in the coming few months, the US would reduce its manpower in Iraq from 133,000 to 35,000 troops, although he did not give an exact timetable.

Despite concerns, the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad have already begun a policy of reopening closing roads, reducing the number of fixed checkpoints and removing the concrete barriers that have long dominated the Baghdad streetscape.

At a press conference today, the spokesman for Baghdad operations, General Qasim Ata, explained that a special study had been conducted on ways to reduce traffic in Baghdad.

Zeitoun road, a main highway in central Baghdad, closed since 2003, was reopened two weeks ago, he said, and Mr al-Maliki had ordered all roads blockaded for security reasons opened and all concrete barriers removed from the streets by the end of the year.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, the French Prime Minister François Fillon, and the Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, arrived in Baghdad for talks with Mr al-Maliki and President Talabani.

Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, told The Times that the Government hoped that five memoranda of understanding between France and Iraq would be signed, covering security, trade and housing.

On security, he said he hoped that arrangements would be made whereby France would provide training to Iraqi security forces and weapons and equipment to the army.

An aide to Mr Fillon said that there was significant corporate interest in Iraq, and representatives of the oil company Total, the Lafarge building materials group and the European aerospace giant EADS accompanied the delegation.

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