Source: Reuters
(Adds Mosul church bombings)
BAGHDAD, Dec 15 (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed on Tuesday in a series of car bombs targeting morning commuters in Baghdad's government district and churches in northern Iraq, police said.
In Baghdad, three car bombs hit central Baghdad, where morning traffic was at a standstill as government workers made their way to offices in and around the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Police said the attacks killed four people and wounded 15 others, but Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said no one had been killed and only four wounded.
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy, but casualty figures from police and official sources often differ.
One of the bombs went off in a car park near the Iranian embassy, another near the Foreign Ministry and a third close to a popular restaurant. The blasts set nearby cars ablaze.
Another series of car bombs hit Baghdad last week killing up to 112 people.
Such attacks on apparently secure areas appear aimed at undermining Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's credibility ahead of March 7 elections and raise troubling questions about Iraq's future as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw.
In the northern city of Mosul, where insurgents continue to stage shootings, roadside bombs and kidnappings despite six years of U.S. and Iraqi military campaigns, a series of car bombs killed four people and wounded 40 others.
The initial bomb went off outside an Assyrian church in western Mosul, and the second detonated less than 10 minutes later as people gathered at the initial blast site.
Across the city, a bomb exploded near another church, damaging the church's gates. No one was wounded.
"I heard a powerful blast, which shattered our windows and scattered the furniture, the sofa, and the television. I ran outside with my family and we saw that the explosion had totally destroyed the church's outer wall,"said Kadhim Hamid, who lives across the street from one of the churches.
The Christian minority in ethnically and religiously diverse Mosul, seen as one of the few remaining strongholds for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, has been targeted in the past.
"We are peaceful people, but we come under attack sometimes. We are the victim of instability in this province," said one Mosul priest, who asked to go unnamed for fear of attack.
One of those killed in the Mosul church bombing was a seven-day-old baby girl named Teba Saad Jassim, police said. The baby's parents were bringing her home from the hospital and passed by the church just when the bomb exploded. (Writing by Mohammed Abbas and Missy Ryan)
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