13 killed in Iraq car bomb attacks

At least 13 people were killed and 29 wounded Tuesday in separate car bomb attacks targeting commercial areas of Shia provinces in central and southern Iraq, police sources said.

Eight people were killed and some 10 wounded when a car bomb detonated in the eastern part of the holy Shia city of Karbala, 110 km south of Iraq's capital Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Babil province, a booby trapped car exploded in a parking lot in the town of Iskandariyah, about 50 km south of Baghdad, killing three people and injuring nine, along with destroying more than 20 cars.

Another car bomb ripped through the town of Kefil, south of Babil's provincial capital city of Hilla, about 100 km south of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding eight others, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

A fourth car bomb exploded at a busy parking lot in the oil hub city of Basra, some 500 km south of Baghdad, injuring two people and destroying several cars, a local police source said.

Iraq is witnessing some of its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, terrorism and violence have killed 5,576 civilians in Iraq in the first half of this year, with 11,666 more wounded.