5 killed in violence in Iraq's Diyala

BAQUBA - Five people were killed and 10 wounded in separate bombings and shootings in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Saturday, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

A car bomb exploded at a popular market in the town of Kan'an north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding six others, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb struck the convoy of commander of an Iraqi army division near the town of Sa'diyah, some 60 km north of Baquba, killing one of his soldiers and wounding four others, the source said.

The commander himself escaped the attack unharmed, the source added.

Also in the province, a young man was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of his house in Baquba, the source said.

Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border east of the country, has long been a stronghold for al-Qaida militants and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Violence in Iraq has decreased from its climax in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but tensions and sporadic shootings and bombings are still common across the country.