Two car bombs struck Baghdad on Monday, July 14, killing six people and wounding a dozen others, police and medical sources said, according to Reuters.

The explosions occurred as the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki battles Sunni Islamist insurgents who have taken over large parts of northern and western Iraq and threatened the capital.

The first bomb exploded in the central district of Alawi, killing three people and wounding six. The second struck in the Shi'ite western neighborhood of Bayaa, also killing three people.