Police: 5 killed in Iraq attacks on Shia

BAGHDAD -- Attacks killed five people in Iraq's capital yesterday, targeting security forces and Shia Muslims in the small but steady stream of continuing violence across the country.

The victims were top targets of Sunni insurgents who have sought to shake public trust in the Shia-led government and rekindle widespread sectarian fighting like the kind that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago.

In the deadliest attack yesterday, a minibus exploded in the Shia neighborhood of Sadr City. Three passengers were killed and seven wounded in the noontime blast in one of Baghdad's poorest areas and traditional stronghold of a Shia militia that used to fight the Sunni insurgency.

-- AP