Blast in Baghdad

A bomb has exploded in a busy residential area of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

A BBC correspondent in the city said at least one person was injured in the blast, which damaged several buildings in the Mahalat al-Zahab area.

A spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry blamed what he said were agents from the United States and Israel for the attack. The explosion comes three weeks after a meeting in Washington between US government officials and exiled Iraqis over funding for Iraqi opposition activists.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service