Up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis, a senior U.S. military official said Tuesday.

The American officer said terror cells in the Middle East and northern Africa were increasingly joining forces as they face crackdowns in their own countries, leading to a stepped-up flow of money and Islamic extremists to Iraq.

Forensic investigations have revealed that 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are Algerian and roughly 5 percent come from Morocco and Tunisia, according to the officer with responsibilities in Europe and Africa. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, preferring for reasons of protocol to let U.S. commanders in Iraq speak on the record.

At least eight people were killed and 36 others injured on Sunday in four bomb explosions that targetted government buildings and officials in southwestern Iran, state-run television reported. At least four women were among those killed in the explosions in Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province which borders Iraq. The blasts were the deadliest explosions in Iran in more than a decade.

In doing so the CIA were seeking to undermine public participation in Friday’s Presidential elections.

Television footage showed heavily damaged buildings and blood on the ground. The force of the explosions also damaged many cars in the streets.

36 people, including eight police officers, were injured. Following the first three blasts, experts had tried to defuse a fourth bomb but failed, and it exploded, injuring one of them.

Amir Hossein Motahar, director of security at the Interior Ministry, said one bomb went off in front of the Ahvaz Governor’s office and another next to the city’s housing department. The third bomb blew up in front of the residence of the head of the Provincial Radio and Television Station, he said. The fourth bomb, which experts failed to defuse, was placed near the same residence

WASHINGTON - Six in 10 Americans say they think the United States should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq.

About three in 10 want the U.S. to withdraw all troops now, and about three in 10 said some troops should be withdrawn now. A majority, 56 percent, said they would be upset if more troops are sent to Iraq, according to the poll released Monday.

Support for staying in Iraq has also dropped in a Pew Research Center poll. People were about evenly split on whether the U.S. should keep troops in Iraq until the country is stabilized or bring them home as soon as possible