Baghdad - A car bomb exploded on Wednesday in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad district, killing at least seven people and wounding 23, al-Arabiya news channel reported.

The bombing is the second within two days in the same district. It took place near the holy Shiite shrine of Imam Mussa al-Kadhim.

On Tuesday a bomb exploded near the shrine killing eight people and wounding 18.

Tuesday's bomb coincided with a surprise visit to Iraq by US President Barack Obama and came a day after a string of seven bomb attacks.

Those bombings preceded Tuesday's 62nd anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party, and days before Thursday's sixth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein following the US-led invasion in 2003.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki call the attacks "a gift" from the Baath Party to Iraq to mark its "doomed anniversary."(dpa)