Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    MOSUL, Iraq, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A suicide car bomb attack targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded six people in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday, local police source said.

    A suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car near an Iraqi army checkpoint in a neighborhood in the southern part of the Mosul city, wounding two soldiers and four civilians, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The blast destroyed a military vehicle and several nearby civilian cars and buildings, the source said.

    Iraqi security forces sealed off the area to secure the scene immediately after the blast, while ambulances rushed to evacuate the wounded, he said.

    Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, has long been the hot bed of insurgency and sectarian violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.