5 killed in Iraq attacks

Attacks near Baghdad and central Iraq killed five people yesterday, the latest in an apparent spike in unrest barely two weeks ahead of the country’s first elections in three years. In the deadliest attack, a roadside bomb near a fruit and vegetable stall in a small village south of the capital in Babil province killed three people, security and medical officials said. Just west of Baghdad in Abu Ghraib, two soldiers were killed and two others were wounded by another bombing targeting a passing military vehicle. And in Baquba, north of the capital in restive Diyala province, 13 people were wounded by an explosion near a mosque as worshippers were exiting after weekly Friday prayers.