Baghdad hit by multiple bombings

Shortly afterwards a second roadside bomb narrowly missed a US patrol, killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding three others in the mostly Sunni neighbourhood of Dora in southern Baghdad, police said.

 

In the downtown commercial neighbourhood of Salihiyah, a bomb planted in the back of a car parked outside the Baghdad provincial council killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded five others, according to police.

 

Iraqi and US military commanders say violence levels in the Iraqi capital are at their lowest levels this year, which they attribute to the build-up of US troops since February.

 

However, they say they are unable to completely halt bombings despite bringing to a halt a string of car bomb factories in the rural belts surrounding Baghdad, where most bomb production is believed to be taking place.