Baghdad car bomb kills 22, wounds 75 - police

BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) A car bomb killed 22 people and wounded 75 others near a Shi'ite mosque in central Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi police said.

One witness said the wall of the mosque had been knocked down by the blast. Several cars had also caught fire.

Reuters reporters saw large clouds of black smoke rising into the air after the explosion, which rattled windows across the centre of the city.

Gunfire also erupted moments after the blast, which follows a relatively quiet period in the capital after a curfew was imposed for four days last week in the wake of an attack on a revered Shi'ite mosque north of Baghdad.

REUTERS JK KP1616