Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and five others were injured when a bomb went off inside a popular restaurant in central Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "A bomb hidden inside the Abu Ali restaurant near the Taiyaran Square in the Bab al-Sharji area detonated during lunch time, killing two people and wounding five others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Meanwhile, a car bomb went off at the busy al-Hurriyah Square in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, the source added.

    There was no immediate word on casualties in the car bombing,he said.

    Earlier, a ministry source said that a civilian was killed and three others wounded when a car bomb went off around midday near the Dajaj al-Faris restaurant in the Karradah neighborhood.

    A wave of bomb attacks claimed the lives of dozens of Iraqis in the past few days despite the presence of some 85,000 U.S. and Iraqi security forces across the capital in a major offensive aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the war-torn country.