Iraqi security services said the explosions were caused by two car bombs that burned several nearby vehicles and set the gas station on fire, the BBC reported Thursday.

"Somebody detonated two cars against people as they were queuing for petrol," a security services member said.

"What do they want from us?" he asked the BBC reporter. "They have killed all these people. Some are burned."

The explosions come after a relative calm during the recently concluded Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. U.S. and Iraqi forces expect attacks to increase following the execution last Saturday of former leader Saddam Hussein.