A car bomb detonated on Tuesday in downtown Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 17 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

"A car bomb parking at a busy area in Shikh Omer district near a police station and a school, detonated at about 10:30 AM (07:30 GMT), killing five people and wounding 17 others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack damaged several nearby old buildings and civilian cars, the source said.

The attack marked the 4th anniversary of US-led war on Iraq that toppled former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Violence rages on in Iraq as car bombings, roadside bombs and assassination cause dozens of civilian casualties daily despite the presence of tens of thousands of US and Iraqi soldiers across the capital in a major security crackdown aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the war-torn country.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2007)