People gather at the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad. The car bomb exploded on a main street of Baghdad's eastern Jadida district. (AFP)

A car bomb blew up Thursday at a busy market in southeastern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20 others. (Reuters)

An injured child is rushed from the scene of a car bomb explosion at a market in central Baghdad. (AFP)

    BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A car bomb blew up Thursday at a busy market in southeastern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20 others, police said.

    It was not clear whether the attack was a suicide bombing or what the intended target was.

    "A car bomb detonated at a busy market near a mosque in Baghdadal-Jadeda district in southeastern Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of people," Hazim al-Janabi, a witness, told Xinhua.

    The blast set several cars ablaze, sending a plume of black smoke to the sky. Several shops nearby were also destroyed and the wreckage was scattered across the area, he added.

    US soldiers and Iraqi security forces have rushed to the sceneas ambulances carried dead and wounded people to hospital.

    "It is a disaster, and it has no meaning. There wasn't any US or Iraqi security force in the area. I don't know what do they want,"Janabi said.

    Insurgents shot dead two top officials of Iraqi defense and interior ministries in separate attacks in Baghdad on Thursday morning.

    Insurgents have stepped up attacks over the past two weeks to undermine the country's new transitional government, targetting security forces and officials. Enditem

Two US Marines killed in western Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Two US Marines were killed by a land mine in western Iraq, US military said Thursday.

    The military said the two were killed and 14 others wounded Wednesday when a US armored vehicle hit a land mine in northwestern Iraq during a military offensive.

    The offensive, named "Operation Matador", was launched against insurgents and foreign fighters in the Al-Jazirah desert north of the Euphrates River, an area served as a smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters.

    Over 1,600 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003. Enditem

Senior Iraqi officers killed in Baghdad

    BEIJING, May 12 -- An Iraqi brigadier-general and a police colonel have been assassinated in two separate attacks.

    Staff General Iyad Imad Mehdi was shot several times by gunmen Thursday morning while on his way to work in Jihad district.

    In a separate incident, gunmen shot dead police Colonel Jamal Ahmed Hussein near his home in Amin district in southeastern Baghdad.

    Hussein was on his way to work at the interior ministry when he came under attack.

    Insurgents have stepped up their violent campaign over the past few weeks to destabilize the country's new government, targeting security forces and senior officials.

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)