Baghdad, Oct 21 (IANS): Up to seven people were killed and some 40 wounded in two car bomb explosions outside a restaurant in Iraq's capital Baghdad Tuesday, an interior ministry source said.

The attack occurred at noon when two booby-trapped cars went off during lunch time in quick succession at a parking lot outside Habaybnah Restaurant in the Shia-dominated district of Talbiyah in eastern Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The latest reports said that seven people were killed and 40 wounded by the double blasts," the source said.

Earlier, the source put the toll at three killed and nine wounded.

It was apparently a part of a series of deadly attacks during the past few days that targeted predominantly Shia districts in Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of Iraqis.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have killed 5,576 civilians in Iraq in the first half of this year, with 11,666 more wounded, according to a recent UN report.