At least four people were killed and some 10 others wounded Sunday in a car bomb explosion outside a medical complex in Mosul, the capital city of Nineveh province, a provincial police source said.
"A booby-trapped car parked outside the complex that includes hospitals and a medicine college in western Mosul went off in the morning," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The toll could rise as the area was busy during the rush hour of the day, the source said, citing police reports.
Nineveh province and its capital Mosul have long been a stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida militants. The province has been the scene of major security crackdowns by the U. S. troops and Iraqi security forces to uproot the insurgency which erupted shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Violence and sporadic high-profile attacks are still common in Iraqi cities, shaping a setback to the efforts of the Iraqi government to restore normalcy in the country after violence-torn Iraq held parliamentary elections more than seven months ago.