Baghdad hit by deadly car bomb

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb blew up in Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding four others, an Interior Ministry official said.

The Sunday attack underscored the fragility of relative calm in the Iraqi capital; violence levels have dropped sharply in Baghdad and across the country over the past few months.

Early Sunday in northern Iraq, U.S. forces killed two relatives of Salaheddin's governor Hamad al-Qaisi and identified them as members of al Qaeda in Iraq.

But a local police official said the two males -- one of them 16 years old -- were "executed" as they headed to morning prayers in Baiji, located north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province.

That police official, Lt. Col. Saad al-Qaisi, is also related to the two who were killed.

The U.S. military disputed al-Qaisi's account, saying its forces captured a wanted al Qaeda in Iraq financier during a pre-dawn raid in Baiji. The military said the wanted man was wounded.

The military said troops encountered two armed men during the raid, perceived "hostile intent" and shot and killed them in "self-defense."

Another suspected terrorist was detained in the raid, the military said.

"It was subsequently determined that the two armed men killed in the event were related to the governor of Salaheddin Province," the military said.

Lt. Col. Saad al-Qaisi -- the Baiji police official who is also the governor's brother -- said the two killed were the governor's 16-year-old son and the teen's cousin.

He said his nephew Hussam Hamad al-Qaisi and Badri Khalaf Issa walked out of a house next door to the building that was being raided by the U.S. military at around 3:30 a.m. He said the young men "were taken and executed" by the military.

Al-Qaisi, the police official, said the military handed the two bodies to Baiji police Sunday afternoon, but provided no explanation of how they were killed.

He denied the military's claim that the two young men were members of al Qaeda in Iraq, saying it would be highly unlikely any son of a provincial governor would be working for the Sunni militant group.

Other developments:

• Early Monday, U.S. and Iraqi troops detained a suspected propaganda specialist for the Hezbollah Brigades, a homegrown cell described as an "offshoot of Iranian-trained Special Groups." The Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq is distinct from the better-known Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. "Special Groups" is the term the U.S. military uses to describe Iranian-backed Shiite militants in Iraq.

• On Sunday and Monday, troops seized "an alleged senior adviser for al Qaeda in Iraq's Mosul network" and detained 10 additional suspects in Mosul and Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

• Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama -- who has made ending the Iraq war a cornerstone of his run for the presidency -- met on Monday with Iraqi officials and U.S.-led coalition military commanders about the conflict, now in its sixth year. Watch what the Iraqi government thinks of Obama's proposals »

• A videotaped statement claiming one of five British hostages captured in Iraq last year has committed suicide is an "abhorrent film" that will only increase the anguish suffered by their families, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this story.

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