A car bomb exploded near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad during Sunday morning rush hour, killing at least two civilians and wounding five, police said. The blast was in a parking lot across the street from the embassy, a police official said. He said the two killed were civilians and the wounded included three embassy guards.
Elsewhere in the capital, a senior police official was wounded when a bomb that was stuck to his car exploded in a busy intersection. A traffic officer was killed and four other people were wounded in the attack, another police official said.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
The violence underscored military warnings that insurgents remain a dangerous threat despite recent security gains that have pushed the number of Iraqi civilian casualties to their lowest levels in more than four years.
In another development, a U.S. helicopter crashed Sunday south of Baghdad, wounding the two American soldiers who were aboard, the military said.
Preliminary indications point to mechanical failure as the cause of the crash, but an investigation will be conducted to determine what happened, the military said.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, continued targeting Shiite militia fighters it says are members of Iranian-backed "special groups" that are defying a cease-fire order by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It has warned key leaders have fled to other areas as American and Iraqi forces closed in on them during operations in their main Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
American troops acting on tips captured four suspected "special groups members" without violent resistance Sunday in the Shiite district of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad, the military said.
Those detained included a suspect accused of smuggling Iranian weapons, coordinating training of Iraqi militants in Iran, training others in sniper tactics and acting as a key mediator between militia leaders in western Baghdad, according to the military statement.
Ten al-Qaida linked insurgents also were captured in U.S.-led operations in Mosul and north of Baghdad on Sunday, the military said.