(Adds detail on Baghdad explosions)

By Claudia Parsons and Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A fuel tanker rigged with explosives killed 40 people when it blew up near a Sunni mosque in western Iraq on Saturday, a day after the mosque's imam had criticised al Qaeda militants, police and residents said.

The bomb exploded in a market in the town of Habaniya in the restive province of Anbar, where U.S. forces are battling Sunni Arab insurgent groups, including al Qaeda.

Local police said they believed the mosque was the target, adding that the market had been destroyed and 64 people wounded. Women and children were among the dead, they said.

In Baghdad, more than 20 loud explosions in quick succession rocked a southern district of the capital after night fell.

The U.S. military said the cause of the blasts were "indirect fire". Brigadier Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Iraqi forces in the capital, said the blasts were the result of military operations by Iraqi and U.S. forces conducting a major security crackdown in Baghdad.

Residents said the imam of the mosque in Habaniya had criticised Sunni al Qaeda during Friday prayers.

Some Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar are leading a campaign to fight al Qaeda, which is deeply entrenched in the province. But the attack signals an escalation of the power struggle in an area where U.S. troop reinforcements are soon to be deployed.

U.S. President George W. Bush is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq to help with the crackdown in Baghdad, aimed at stemming sectarian bloodshed pushing Iraq towards all-out civil war.

Most are heading for the capital, but 4,000 will be sent to Anbar, the most dangerous province in Iraq for American forces.

Attacks on mosques are a common feature in Iraq as militant groups seek to stir up sectarian tensions.

Habaniya lies 85 km (50 miles) west of the Baghdad. U.S. forces imposed a curfew in the area after the blast.

On Monday, two suicide bombers in nearby Ramadi killed 11 people when they targeted the house of Sattar al-Buzayi, who has led the anti-al Qaeda drive, which is backed by the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and the U.S. military.

Insurgents earlier stormed an Iraqi police checkpoint near Baghdad airport, killing eight policemen in a bold challenge to the security crackdown in the capital.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed optimism about the 10-day-old security plan, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed around 400 suspected militants since it started.

"BRAZEN ATTACK"

But the attack on the police checkpoint in an area not far from the main U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad underlined the hurdles faced by Iraqi security forces who are often out- gunned by increasingly sophisticated insurgents.

"It was a brazen attack," said U.S. military spokesman Captain Curtis Kellogg. "It was definitely coordinated. We expect this type of thing to continue. They will try to test the Iraqi and U.S. security forces."

The U.S. military said eight to 10 gunmen attacked the checkpoint in two vehicles. Militants in the first car got out firing assault rifles and throwing grenades at the policemen.

The second vehicle was forced into a ditch where it was cordoned off on suspicion it could be a suicide car bomb.

Two militants were killed in the fire fight. One was wearing a suicide vest, Kellogg said.

Maliki visited the Baghdad operation's command centre on Saturday and urged security forces not to be swayed by sectarian loyalties.

He told reporters 426 suspected militants had been detained in the crackdown "and around that number have been killed" since it was launched in mid-February. The campaign is regarded as the last chance to prevent all-out civil war.

The Shi'ite prime minister is under pressure from Washington to root out Shi'ite militias with as much determination as he has used against Sunni Arab insurgents. (Additional reporting by Ross Colvin, Mussab Al-Khairalla, Claudia Parsons and Dean Yates)

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