Five dead as blasts rock Baghdad

A suicide car bomb struck near the headquarters of a major Shiite political bloc today in Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding seven, including an Iraqi soldier, police said.

The explosion occurred about 5pm in the south-eastern neighbourhood of Jadriyah, some 200-300 yards away from the heavily guarded headquarters of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

The Shiite bloc carries the strongest voice in the 275-seat parliament and is run by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, whose son Amar was detained for nearly 12 hours by US forces on Friday as he crossed back from Iran.

Three cars and a house also were damaged in the blast, police said.

In a separate incident, a truck exploded as worshippers left a Sunni mosque in a volatile area west of Baghdad, police said.

At least 62 were wounded in the attack.

The blast occurred in Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, after prayer services at the mosque, which is adjacent to a police station, police officer Abdul-Aziz Mohammed said.

Habbaniyah lie between the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province.