A car bomb blew up Thursday night near a Shiite mosque in southern Baghdad, killing two children and wounding five other people, police said on Friday.

The blast took place at 11:15 p.m. (1915 GMT) late Thursday outside the Imam al-Mahdi Shiite mosque in Baghdad's southern district of Saidiyah, said the police.

Two children were killed and their mother was injured along with four other people, said the police, adding that the blast was so powerful that damages were done to the mosque and nearby shops and houses.

Insurgents have mounted their attacks on worship places in Iraq in an attempt to provoke sectarian conflict among Iraqi factions.

Source: Xinhua