Less than a week away from the handover of sovereignty in Iraq a series of five co-ordinated car bomb attacks has left about 100 Iraqis dead.

The attacks are believed to be the responsibility of a group headed by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said the leadership had been braced for an explosion of militant activity.

"These are isolated incidents," he said.

"We are going to face them and we are going to defeat them and we are going to crush them."

The attacks came as Sir Jeremy Greenstock conceded "there is never going to be western-style democracy" in Iraq.