The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Baghdad

A suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi minister during rush hour Thursday morning in Baghdad, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 20, officials said.

The blast underscored the continued dangers facing Iraqis despite a sharp decline in violence over the past year as insurgents defy security improvements. Militants have frequently targeted Iraqi government officials.

The attacker rammed the car into the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry convoy as it passed through the central Bab al-Sharji area, a ministry spokesman said.

The Shiite minister, Mahmoud Mohammed al-Radhi, escaped unharmed but three of his guards were killed, spokesman Abdullah al-Lami told the al-Arabiya TV station.

"It is the latest in a series of criminal acts that are targeting development process in Iraq," al-Lami said.

At least 10 civilians were killed in addition to the guards, and 21 people were wounded, according to police and hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Smoke and the smell of gunpowder filled the air. Drivers at a nearby intersection sought shelter behind their cars until Iraqi security forces ordered them to evacuate the area.

AP Television News video showed a burned SUV and the charred hulk of the apparent car bomb surrounded by Iraqi security forces. The windows of a nearby camera store were shattered, with torn pictures left among the glass.

Youssef Qassim, the 40-year-old owner of a nearby clothing store, said he peered through a hole in the concrete wall surrounding the market and saw at least two cars on fire with burning bodies inside.

"The guards of the government convoy opened fire into the air but stopped when U.S. forces arrived at the scene," he said.