Bomb blasts shook this Iraqi capital on the New Year eve on Wednesday, highlighting the major concern of security next year in the war-ravaged country. 

At least five Iraqis were killed and 35 others, including three western journalists, were wounded when a powerful explosion rocked a luxurious restaurant in Baghdad at 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) local time.

The force of the blast destroyed the front of the Nabil Restaurant and damaged nearby buildings and parked cars in the Arasat district in central Baghdad.

Rescuers pulled injured people out of the restaurant, where probably two dozen of people were staying to celebrate the New Year before the explosion.

Iraqi police said it was still too early to identify whether it was a suicide car bombing as many suspected.

The capital city witnessed at least two other bomb explosions earlier in the day.

An Iraqi child was killed, five US soldiers and three Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members were wounded when a bomb planted inside a sedan car on the Palestine Avenue in eastern Baghdad went off.

A US humvee was seen damaged in the attack, possibly targeting a passing US-Iraq joint patrol.

A second bomb explosion happened later in central Baghdad, slightly wounding three US soldiers.

The fresh bombings went off while the US military and Iraqi police stepped up security measures across Iraq against possible attacks devised to tarnish peace-keeping efforts.

"Any time we perceive the enemy will try to attack us, to take advantage of one of our holidays or one of our important dates in our history, we always take a posture of extra vigilance," said Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of US troops in charge of Baghdad area.

Dempsey told reporters at a press conference that his 1st Armored Division had received intelligence about attacks in the capital during the holiday.

Holidays like Christmas and Ramadan, or Muslim holy month, in 2003 were harried with dramatic bombings and shellings in Iraq.

In another development, at least two people were killed and 14 others wounded in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk when Kurdish militiamen fired shots at Arab and Turkmen demonstrators, local police said.

The Arabs and Turkmen rallied in the morning to demand that Kirkuk remain under a central Iraqi government and not be incorporated into any proposed Kurdish federation.

Five Kurdish members of the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) had presented a proposal of enlarging the Kurdish autonomous region to include Kirkuk.

Abdul Aziz, Shiite leader and the current IGC president, said late Wednesday that a special committee will be set up to study the thorny issue.

Although the exact division of the population of Kirkuk is not known, it is believed that residents are divided equally between three ethnic groups -- Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds.

Bombardments and gunfire could be heard in Baghdad Wednesday night as the 1st Armored Division continued the week-old Operation Iron Grip, which had resulted in disrupting four cells of former regime elements.

Four anti-US personnel were killed and 185 enemies were captured while hundreds of rockets and mortar rounds were confiscated during the offensive operation, the military said.

Insurgents using rockets and mortars have launched intensified attacks across Iraq following the capture of Saddam Hussein on Dec. 13.

Most Iraqis have neglected the celebration of the New Year since early 1990s, when the United Nations imposed harsh sanctions for Iraq's invasion of its tiny neighbor Kuwait.

"We try to be happy although we have no security now," said a young Iraqi woman, who refused to give her name, as she bought nuts for family recreation overnight.

"The Americans should do more," said 25-year-old Hassan Abdullah, adding that his best wishes for the New Year are "better security and a good job." 

(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2004)