Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb struck a U.S. military patrol in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, killing nine people and wounding 23 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

    A car bomb detonated near a U.S. patrol in the Garage al-Amana area in the neighborhood of Elwiyah, killing nine people and wounding 23 others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The source said that one U.S. soldier was among the killed people and two U.S. soldiers were among the wounded. The U.S. military did not immediately confirm the report.

    U.S. and Iraqi security forces detained a man believed to be the one who conducted the attack, the source said.

    Sporadic attacks continue in the Iraqi capital despite the relative lull of violence across the war-torn country, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.