MOSUL, Iraq, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb explosion killed three soldiers and a civilians and wounded 13 people in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province on Wednesday, a provincial police source said.

    A booby-trapped car parked at a road detonated when an Iraqi Army patrol passed by in the Shifaa neighborhood in western Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The blast damaged two of the patrol's vehicles, killing three soldiers and wounding three others aboard, the source said.

    A civilian was also killed by the blast, along with wounding 10others, the source added.

    Nineveh province, with its capital city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.

    Despite the security gains in recent months in Iraq, there are still sporadic bombings targeting Iraqi security forces, which shape setback to the Iraqi government.

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