BAGHDAD, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Two separate car bomb attacks rocked the Australian embassy and a police station in Baghdad on Wednesday morning, killing at least eight people and wounding several others, police said.

    One blast took place around 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) at the Australian embassy in Baghdad's central Jadiriyah neighborhood. A police officer on the scene said two people were killed and four others injured.

    A spokeswoman of Australia's Foreign Affairs Department said in Canberra that there were no Australian casualties in the attack.

    "All embassy and ADF (Australian Defense Force) staff have been accounted for and no Australian personnel have been injured," she said.

    Less than half an hour later, another car bomb hit a police station in Baghdad's eastern Elwiyah neighborhood. An Interior Ministry official said six people died in the second bomb attack.

    As the Jan. 30 elections draw near, there has been an upsurge in insurgent attacks in Baghdad.

    On Tuesday, a suicide car bomb rocked the main office of a leading Shiite party in central Baghdad, killing three people.

    For fears of attacks on election day, the Iraqi interim government announced Tuesday that it will close international landborders between Jan. 29 and Jan. 31 and extend curfews and restrict movement inside the country. Enditem