Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Five civilians were injured in a car bomb explosion in western Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "A booby-trapped car parked near the Nafaq al-Shurta area in Khadraa district detonated in the afternoon, wounding five civilians," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The blast could have caused higher toll but the Iraqi security forces discovered the car and blocked the road shortly before the explosion, which apparently targeted U.S. or Iraqi security patrols using the main road between Baghdad and Sunni bastions in western the capital, the source said.

    Earlier, a ministry source said that six civilians were killed and 14 people were wounded, including six policemen, when a booby-trapped car targeting a police patrol went off in the morning in northeastern Baghdad neighborhood of Sha'ab.

    Violence persists in Baghdad despite a relative lull announced earlier by U.S. and Iraqi officials.