Car bomb kills nine in northern Baghdad -- police

BAGHDAD, July 2 (Reuters) Nine people were killed today by a car bomb parked beside a market in a northern part of Baghdad, police said.

The police said 33 people were wounded in the attack, which took place in the religiously mixed district of Binoog.

The Iraqi television channel Hurra said a nearby apartment building was damaged in the explosion, but police were not able to immediately able to verify the report.

US and Iraqi forces have launched a major security clampdown in and around the capital to thwart violence aimed at fostering sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs and tipping the country into a full scale civil war.

REUTERS RKM HS2255