A car bomb killed at least 15 people in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, while a Kurdish lawmaker was injured when a mortar shell exploded near parliament in a highly-guarded part of the city, DPA reported.
Security officials said the bombing near al-Taji prison in northern Baghdad injured 20 people. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
The lawmaker from the opposition Kurdish Alliance was reported to have been injured when the shell exploded in central Baghdad's Green Zone, which is surrounded by concrete walls and security checkpoints. Violence in Iraq had steadily dropped after a peak in 2006. But bombings, mainly targeting security forces, have become an almost daily occurrence in recent months as US troops began to leave the country ahead of the 2011 deadline.