Baghdad car bomb kills five people - police

BAGHDAD, Aug 20 (Reuters) At least five people were killed when a bomb in a parked car exploded in the Shi'ite Sadr City district of in northeastern Baghdad on Monday, police said.

Another 20 were wounded in the blast.

Sadr city is a sprawling Shi'ite slum and stronghold of the feared Mehdi Army militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The US military last week announced a major new offensive targeting Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias in the run-up to a crucial progress report on Iraq to be delivered to Congress in mid-September.

Washington fears al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias will attempt to influence debate on the unpopular war in Washington by stepping up attacks before the report is delivered.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in waves of sectarian violence since the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in the town of Samarra in February 2006 pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war.

REUTERS NY BD1842