Five dead in Iraq motorcycle bombing

Five people were killed and 10 others wounded when a motorcycle bomb exploded near a cinema in a crowded area of eastern Baghdad, police have said.

The attack occurred at around 7.00 pm (2130 IST) in the predominantly Shiite Muslim neighbourhood of Baghdad Jadida (new Baghdad), said a police officer yesterday.

The bombing coincided with a visit to Baghdad by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is assessing the security situation after US troops withdrew from urban centres at the end of June.

In a separate attack in the capital, 17 people were wounded by a bomb which exploded in the middle of a popular coffee shop in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Kasra, a police officer said.

Violence had dropped markedly throughout the country in recent months but attacks increased in the run-up to the US military pullback, with 437 Iraqis killed in June -- the highest death toll in 11 months.

Attacks remain particularly common in Baghdad and the restive northern city of Mosul.