A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near a hotel in central Baghdad early this Monday morning, killing himself and at least five other persons.

At least 10 people were wounded. Reporters who were nearby say it was an unusually loud explosion, even for Baghdad, and they heard gunfire in the area afterwards. The blast occurred close to Firdoz Square, outside the Sadir hotel, which houses some of the many foreign contractors working in Iraq, and has been a target of similar attacks before.

Hours earlier, a similar attack at a Baghdad police station killed at least 22 people and wounded 25 others. Sunday's bomber detonated a flatbed truck carrying 220 kilograms of explosives, setting off a blast that incinerated at least 20 vehicles.

Elsewhere in the capital, a mortar attack killed three people near the Interior Ministry and two policemen were killed in separate attacks. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a young girl on Sunday. To the north, in Kirkuk, gunmen killed a police officer, an Iraqi national guardsman, and a civilian.

Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP, Reuters.