Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and two more injured in a roadside bomb attack in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "A roadside bomb went off in the afternoon near an Iraqi army patrol in the al-Amil neighborhood, killing three soldiers and wounded two others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Meanwhile, a mortar round landed on the Amil neighborhood and wounded three civilians, the source added.

    Earlier, the police said they found 33 unidentified bodies killed in execution-style during in different parts of Baghdad the past 24 hours.

    In separate case earlier in the day, the police thwarted a suicide attack targeted a recruitment center in northern Baghdad, wounding three guards, according to another Interior Ministry source.

    Violence griped the Iraq capital despite more than three months of a U.S.-led security crackdown, which has not achieved substantial progress in reducing violence in Iraq.