Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    BAGHDAD, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of Baghdad car bombing at a commercial street on Monday rose to four and 12 others wounded, an Interior Ministry source said.

    The attack occurred before noon when a booby-trapped car detonated near an Iraqi Army patrol while passing through the thoroughfare of Mu'askar al-Rasheed near the Mission commercial compound in Baghdad's central neighborhood of Karradah, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    "Our latest reports said that a soldier and three civilians were killed and 12 people, including five soldiers, were wounded by the blast," the source said, citing police and hospital reports.

    The blast also damaged several nearby civilian cars and shops, the source said.

    Earlier, first police reports about the incident did not mention the target of the attack was the Iraqi Army patrol and put the toll at two people killed and five others wounded.

    Violence persists in Baghdad despite a relative lull announced earlier by U.S. and Iraqi officials.