By Xinhua
Baghdad : An Iraqi civilian was killed and four others were injured on Monday when a car bomb went off in a neighborhood in the Shiite-dominated Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
“A car bomb parked in the al-Habibbiya neighborhood detonated in the afternoon, killing a civilian and wounding four others,” the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The blast resulted also in the damage of several nearby shops and civilian cars, the source said.
Sadr City is the stronghold of Shiite militia Mehdi Army loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. This area has been repeatedly targeted by car bombings and suicide bombings in the past.
On Nov. 23 last year, a series of apparently coordinated bombings killed 200 people and wounded another 250 there, making it the deadliest attack in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Earlier, bomb attacks rocked different parts of Baghdad, leaving two civilians dead and eleven others wounded.
Violence persists in Baghdad despite the announcement of a steep drop of violence by U.S. and Iraqi officials as a result of a major security plan aimed at checking the insurgency and sectarian strife in the capital.