Deadly blasts hit southern Iraq

A car bomb went off at a bus terminal in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite Muslim South on Sunday, killing at least nine people, police said.

The bomb detonated in the town of Garmat Ali, around 12 miles north of the usually stable oil hub Basra.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Another bomb went off in a car park outside a government office in Basra itself, wounding at least two people.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is facing widespread protests in the country's Sunni heartland.

Violence, too, has swelled amid rising opposition to Maliki, who is Shi'ite, and Iraq's al Qaeda affiliate has urged demonstrators to take up arms against the government.