Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi deputy oil minister escaped with wounds a roadside bomb attack near his house in central Baghdad on Monday morning, an Interior ministry source said.

    "Saheb Salman Qutub, was wounded when a roadside bomb detonated as he was leaving his house in the Atefiyah neighborhood," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    One of Qutub's bodyguards was also injured by the blast, the source said.

    Also in the day, six civilians were killed and 20 people, including ten policemen, injured when two roadside bombs detonated in quick succession near the office of the police crime investigation unit near the al-Tahariy at Square in Baghdad central district of Karrada.

    Assassinations and bomb attacks have increased recently in Baghdad despite relative lull in violence during the past months.