Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and 17 others, including five soldiers, injured by rocket and bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "A bomb planted in a minibus carrying passengers in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Zaiyuona detonated in the afternoon, killing two passengers and wounding five others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    In a separate incident, two civilians were killed and four others injured when two rockets landed near a cinema building in the Saadoun Street in central Baghdad, the source said, adding the attack also damaged several nearby civilian cars and buildings.

    In eastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol near the al-Shaab soccer stadium, wounding five soldiers and damaging one of the patrols vehicles, according to the source.

    Another roadside bomb detonated near the National Theater in Baghdad's central neighborhood of Karrada, injuring three people, he said.