Violence in Baghdad and north Iraq killed six people on Monday, including three in a pair of roadside bomb attacks in the capital, security officials said.

In the worst incident, an explosion in the predominantly Shiite north Baghdad district of Sadr City killed three civilians and wounded 14 others, an interior ministry official said.

The explosion Monday morning occurred as a minibus was passing along a main road close to a police station in Sadr City, the official said.

And in Hurriyah, also in the capital's north, gunmen killed two civilians using silenced weapons at around 8:30 pm (1730 GMT), the official added. It was unclear why the two victims were targeted.

Three other people were wounded in a blast along Abu Nawas street, which runs along the Tigris river through the centre of Baghdad, according to the official.

In the main northern city of Mosul, a 40-year-old Shiite Turkman businessman was killed by gunman wielding kalashnikov rifles, a police official in the city said. He gave no details as to why the businessman was killed.

Violence levels are dramatically lower than at the peak of Iraq's sectarian bloodshed in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 211 people were killed in violence in April, official figures showed.

Share This Article With Planet Earth