Two blasts have gone off near Baghdad's Green Zone outside Iraq's foreign ministry as John Negroponte, the US deputy secretary of state, was preparing to hold a press conference about his visit to Iraq.

One police report said two mortars had struck close to the foreign ministry, injuring
five civilians and setting several vehicles ablaze.

Negroponte is in Iraq for talks on the handover of security to Iraqi forces.

The Green Zone is a fortified compound of government and diplomatic offices, where journalists had gathered on Tuesday for a news conference by Negroponte and Hoshiyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister.