Insurgents fired a shell into a crowded street in the Iraqi capital Baghdad this morning, killing seven people, including two children, and wounding 42, hospital officials said.
Interior Ministry officials had earlier said the blast was caused by a car bomb. At least five cars were destroyed in the explosion in Rasheed street, a busy commercial part of the city centre.
"The place was very crowded, it is a commercial area.... Casualties are being taken to hospital now," an Interior Ministry official said.
The blast came as an Iraqi national conference, held in central Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, was due to elect a 100-member assembly to oversee elections in January.
Insurgents fired several mortar bombs near the Green Zone on Sunday as the conference opened. Two people were killed in that attack.