A car-bomb went off Tuesday in the heart of the Iraqi capital Baghdad killing more than five people, including two policemen, and leaving almost 20 others wounded.
The explosion occurred at about 10:45 a.m. local time (0745 GMT) in the capital's Karrada neighborhood near a forensic office building which collapsed soon after the blast, an Interior Ministry official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.
Reports say a suicide-bomber drove an explosive-laden car to the entrance of the office in Tahariyat Square and detonated it when challenged by policemen at the checkpoint.
The attack came a day after three huge apparently coordinated minibus bombs targeting important hotels killed more than 36 people in Baghdad, and wounded 71 others. The hotel bombings coincided with the government's announcement that Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin and fearful henchman "Chemical" Ali Hassan al-Majid, a symbol of the fallen regime, had been executed.
Concerns have grown over a sharp rise in violence in the war-ravaged nation ahead of the March 7 parliament elections, the second since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 ousted Saddam Hussein but unleashed a deadly and long-lasting insurgency.
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