Gunmen attacked and robbed a goldsmiths' market in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding four, police said.

About half a dozen gunmen struck the market, located in an older section of the city, around closing time and opened fire before fleeing with gold and jewellery, police said.

It was the second major attack on a gold market in Iraq in 15 days. On May 25, attackers killed 14 people at a market on a busy commercial street in the Bayaa district of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Overall violence has dropped sharply since the worst days of sectarian war in 2006-07, but bombings and shootings are still a regular occurrence, often targeting police, government officials and Sunni ex-fighters.

Two civilians died when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed into a U.S. army patrol near the small town of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Five people were wounded in the assault.

Reuters