Car bomb hits police checkpoint in Baghdad

A car bomb went off near a police commando checkpoint in a Shiite district of Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding 11 people, including four police commando members, a police source said.

"A parking car bomb near a police commando checkpoint detonated at about 3:35 p.m. (1135 GMT) in the Amil neighborhood, wounding 11 people, including four police commando members," the source said.

Iraqi security forces rushed to the area and cordoned off the scene, he added.

In an earlier incident, gunmen stormed offices of an Iraqi contracting company in Baghdad's western district of Mansur, killing five workers and wounding three others, an Interior Ministry source said.

Another car bomb parking in a road in Baghdad's crowded Karrada neighborhood went off at about 12:05 p.m. (0805 GMT), killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding seven others, another ministry source said.

Elsewhere, gunmen in southern Baghdad ambushed a minibus carrying Shiite mourners and a coffin to the southern holy Shiite city of Najaf for a funeral, killing 10 Shiites.

Tensions have been running high in Baghdad since Sunday as sectarian violence mounted.

Source: Xinhua