Three separate attacks in Iraq have killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens more.
Army officials said at least 25 Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack at an army base north of Baghdad.
Hours later, a suicide car bomber killed eight policemen on patrol in a southern district of Baghdad.
In a third incident a mortar killed seven Iraqis in the restive northern town of Tal Afar.
The attacks come on the same day that an Australian hostage was freed by Iraqi forces after being held captive in Iraq for six weeks.
The US military said Iraqi troops found 63-year-old Douglas Wood by chance while conducting a routine search operation in western Baghdad this morning.
Mr Wood thanked those who had helped free him, in a message read out by an Australian official in Baghdad, adding that Iraqi troops played a key role in his release.
‘I'm extremely happy and relieved to be free again and deeply grateful to all those who worked to bring about my release,’ Mr Wood said in a statement read by Nick Warner, head of the Australian emergency response team set up to secure his release.
The California-based engineer is still in Baghdad receiving medical treatment. He was seized by a rebel group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahadeen of Iraq.
Mr Warner said no ransom was paid by the Australian government, nor did Canberra make any political concessions.
