Seven Iraqis wounded as improvised bomb struck French embassy car in southern Baghdad

Seven Iraqis were wounded as an improvised bomb struck a French embassy car in southern Baghdad on Monday.

According to the embassy, the bomb exploded as a single armored car with four French guards on board was passing by and that no one inside was hurt.

An interior ministry official said, meanwhile, that four Iraqi guards protecting the convoy were hurt in the attack, as well as three people passing by.

The bomb struck near the French ambassador's residence in the Mesbah district of southern Baghdad, and an embassy vehicle damaged by the explosion was left at the site.

In other attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, at least three people were killed and nine wounded by gunmen and bombs on Monday. The dead included the mayor of the town of Al-Shar in central Baquba province and a policeman in Baghdad, both killed by gunmen. A car bomb also killed a civilian in a northeastern Baghdad district.

In the northern province of Kirkuk, gunmen kidnapped a 37-year-old businessman on Monday and an 81-year-old optometrist the day before.