BAGHDAD, Iraq, AP -Iraq's interior ministry cautioned people in Baghdad to avoid crowds near mosques and markets due to a car bomb threat.

The ministry, which oversees police, said it received intelligence that insurgents were preparing to set off seven car bombs in Baghdad. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi, an official with the ministry, said Friday that the alert will remain until the bombs are discovered and deactivated.

Security forces were searching the city, with orders to protect holy sites and be on the lookout for suspicious cars, said the statement, which was released Thursday. Citizens were urged to "be cautious, and to avoid gatherings or crowds while leaving markets, mosques and churches."

The statement also warned that legal measures would be taken against "any security official who fails to take the necessary procedures to foil any terrorist attack in his area." The ministry faces accusations of militia infiltration in its ranks.

Other car bombs were possibly heading to some southern Iraqi provinces as well, the statement said, putting security forces in the south also on high alert.