By Xinhua
Baghdad : Five people were killed and 15 others wounded by mortar and gunfire attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source and witnesses said. Several mortar rounds landed on different residential areas ofthe Shiite district of Karrada in central Baghdad in the afternoon, killing two people and wounding six others, a ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, three mortar rounds struck the heavily fortified Green Zone in central the capital, the source said. One more mortar round landed near the Beirut Square in eastern Baghdad, wounding four people, he said.
Witnesses in central Baghdad told Xinhua that several explosions rocked the U.S. protected zone and black smoke could be seen rising above the area.
Separately, clashes erupted in the afternoon between Mahdi Armymilitia and Iraqi security forces in the Kadhmiyah neighborhood in northern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding four others, the ministry source said.
In eastern Baghdad, clashes broke out between Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and an Iraqipolice commando force, resulted in the killing of two people and the wounding of five others, he said.
The attacks came as sporadic clashes between Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen and the U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces spread in several Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, killing and wounding hundreds of Iraqis.