Iraq bombs kill 5, wound 23

A car bomb and improvised explosives killed at least five people and wounded 23 in Baghdad and southern Iraq on Friday, with three Shiite pilgrims among the dead, security officials said. "A car bomb killed three people and wounded 20 people inside a bus station north of the city of Karbala," a shrine city in the south, said General Othman al-Ghanimi, a security official in charge of security in the region. Dr Nazeer al-Rubayee of Karbala's Al-Hussein Hospital confirmed the toll, saying that the wounded included women. In the Dura district of southern Baghdad, one person was killed and three wounded by an improvised bomb, an interior ministry official said. Meanwhile, in another part of the same district, an explosion after midnight on Thursday killed one person in a house where police later found several improvised bombs and guns fitted with silencers. The violence comes after June was the deadliest month so far this year for the number of Iraqis killed, and the bloodiest in three years for US forces, who lost 14 soldiers in attacks. Last month, 271 Iraqis died in attacks -- 155 civilians, 77 policemen and 39 soldiers -- according to a government count. Many of the victims were government officials killed with silenced guns.