The violence erupted at around 2:50 pm (1150 GMT) when a suicide attacker wearing an army captain's uniform detonated his payload near the building, causing multiple casualties, a high-ranking defence ministry official said.

The attackers took control of the building as a total of eight explosions sounded across the area in less than an hour amid exchanges of gunfire and as army helicopters circled overhead.

The gunmen occupied the building and posted snipers on the roof of the bank, the defence official said.

In the largest such attack to target the central bank, 15 people were killed, including three civil defence workers and bank guards, and 50 wounded, said Major General Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the security forces in Baghdad.

Most of those killed before the end of the siege were bank workers, according to an interior ministry official.

"The attack has failed and no money was taken, but there is damage in the building," Atta said on Iraqiya public television. Three gunmen in explosive vests had blown themselves up at the main entrance and two at another entrance.

An interior ministry official denied earlier reports that the assailants had also seized hostages, putting this down to "confusion at the start of the attack."

Atta said the assault "bears the hallmark of Al-Qaeda," although it was not clear if the attackers intended to rob the bank, target its employees and take hostages, or destroy the building itself.

Government figures showed that 337 people were killed in violence across Iraq in May, the fourth time this year that the overall death toll has been higher when compared with the same month of 2009.

The attack came on the eve of the opening of conflict-torn Iraq's new parliament, more than three months after a general election which resulted in deadlock between rival parties.

The opening session of the Council of Representatives marks one of the few tangible forward steps taken by the war-battered country's politicians since the election.

Diplomats and politicians, however, warned ahead of Monday's opening that a new government continues to appear some way off, and that it may be several months before the fine detail on the country's new leaders takes shape.

US forces are steadily being pulled out of Iraq and a new administration in Baghdad is seen as key to a smooth withdrawal of all American troops -- 88,000 remain in country -- by the end of 2011.

Former premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won most seats, 91, in the election, followed closely by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance, which won 89, but both have failed to build a coalition government.

In a sign that the political tempo may be speeding up, Allawi and Maliki held a long-awaited meeting on Saturday, which was described as "friendly and positive," according to a brief statement released by the prime minister.

In other violence on Sunday two policemen were shot dead by insurgents in the restive city of Mosul, 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of Baghdad, said a security official.

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