At least 12 people were killed and 46 others injured when a car bomb went off in the central part of the Iraqi capital on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said.

"A car bomb parked near the communication center of Bab al-Muadham neighborhood detonated while an Iraqi army patrol was passing by, killing a soldier and 11 civilians," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blast resulted also in the wounding of four soldiers and 42 civilians along with damaging one of the patrol's vehicles, several nearby shops and civilian cars, the source said.

The incidents came as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is paying a landmark visit to Baghdad, which is the first for an Iranian president since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2008)