Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Mortar, bomb attacks and gunfire wounded at least 15 people in and outside the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

    Mortar rounds landing near the Abn al-Nafees Hospital in central Baghdad wounded seven people, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The attack shattered windows of the hospital and caused damages to the nearby buildings, the source said.

    Separately, the Iraqi security forces traded fire with gunmen in the Nahdha area before midday, wounding a policeman£¬ the source said citing a police report.

    In addition, a roadside bomb explosion rocked Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Zaiyouna, the source said, adding that there was no immediate word on the exact number of the casualties. Elsewhere, gunmen and the Iraqi security forces also clashed in the town of Iskandariyah, 50 km south of the capital, resulted in the wounding of three policemen and four civilians, including three women, he said.

    Earlier, six people were killed and four others wounded in the morning when two roadside bombs detonated in a quick succession near a bus station on the al-Qanat Street in Baghdad. Violence persists in Baghdad despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers across the capital in a major security crackdown aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence.