At least 25 people were killed and 71 others wounded in a suicide car bomb blast on Monday at a medical center south of Baghdad, Interior Ministry spokesman said.

"We have 25 people killed and up to 71 others wounded, some of them in critical condition in the car bomb blast," Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman told Xinhua.

The blast occurred at about 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into a crowd of civil servants queued for physical check up to work for the state in a medical center in Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, Rahman said.

Ambulances had rushed to the scene to evacuate the killed and wounded to a nearby hospital in the city, he added.

In a separate attack in Musayyib, some 30 km north of Hilla, a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing at least one policeman and wounding several others, police said.

The attack apparently targeted the police chief of al-Iskandariyah town, who survived the attack, they added.

Insurgents frequently attack Iraq's fledgling security forces and civilians who work with the US-installed interim government, accusing them of collaborating with the US forces.