Distraught ... a mother cradles her baby who was shot dead by Iraqi troops / AFP
Group of children killed playing soccer
Shocked families ask why area targeted
Baby shot dead after separate bombing
A BOMB blast near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed five children and wounded three as they were playing near their homes.
The bombers struck about 6.30pm (1.30am AEST) in the town of Hammam al-Ali, 20km south of Mosul, police officer Mohammed Sadeeq said.
Reports from the scene said the bomb had been hidden beneath a pile of rubbish and that the children were playing soccer nearby.
"My son was playing with his friends in an open area, but suddenly a bomb exploded near a heap of trash," one local father said, according to the Associated Press.
"We were astonished why the bomb would be left in this place. What could the target be?"
Dr Munthar Abdel Jabbar said the bodies of five children, aged between six and 12, had been received at his clinic in the town.
He said two of the wounded were in critical condition and had been sent to Mosul for specialist treatment.
A three-year-old girl was also killed when Iraqi soldiers opened fire after they were hit by a roadside bomb near Baquba, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad, witnesses said.
Diyala is one of the most dangerous regions of Iraq and has seen a major US-backed offensive against al-Qaeda in recent months.
In Baghdad, a car bomb killed three civilians and wounded seven in the Karrada district across the Tigris river from the Green Zone government compound, security officials said.
