Baghdad - Five Iraqis were killed and 12 injured when two bombs exploded near an electric power station in Baghdad on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said.

The blasts targeted the power station near several primary schools, including one that serves both Christian and Muslim students, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

During the past few weeks, several Christians have been murdered in the northern city of Mosul and thousands have fled the city after recent threats that forced them to leave their homes and jobs.

The attacks coincided with major demonstrations by Christian groups protesting the removal of Article 50 from the provincial elections law, which was approved by the Presidential Council last week. The article had guaranteed Christians certain rights of representation in local assemblies.

Another civilian was killed and a woman injured in two random shootings by Iraqi police personnel in Mosul city, capital of the northern Nineveh province.

A source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that the woman was inside her house when fragments of shattered glass hit her.

Also in Mosul, two young boys were injured by a roadside bomb in Nineveh province on Wednesday, a police source said.

The bomb was hidden in a cartoon box and went off against the six- year-old boys who were playing in al-Tahrir district, east Mosul, VOI reported.

Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, is home to a Sunni majority as well as Christian, Shiite and Kurdish populations. It is viewed by US and Iraqi authorities as one of the last remaining al- Qaida strongholds in Iraq. (dpa)