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Car bomb strikes Baghdad restaurant

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  • NEW: Death toll in Baghdad car bombing rises to four
  • Bomb targets those eating lunch on first day of holiday
  • Blast comes a day after scores killed, wounded in same district
  • Reports of wounding of Samarra mayor turn out to be inaccurate
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From Jomana Karadsheh
CNN
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb detonated Tuesday near a crowded restaurant at lunchtime in central Baghdad, killing at least four civilians and wounding nine others, an Interior Ministry official said.

The bombing struck the Karrada district. Most of the victims were eating lunch on the first day of Iraq's five-day Eid al-Fitr holiday for Sunni Muslims.

Eid al-Fitr, which begins for Shiite Muslims on Wednesday, marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Many people in Baghdad celebrate the holiday by eating and shopping in the Karrada district.

On Sunday, a car and suicide bombing in the same district killed and wounded scores of Iraqis getting ready for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Also in Iraq, reports that a roadside bomb wounded the mayor of Samarra on Monday turned out to be inaccurate.

The mayor appeared to be in good shape and said it was a relative who was wounded in the bombing.

Also on Tuesday, a U.S. soldier died after his unit came under small arms fire in northern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The soldier -- assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad -- was evacuated by air to a medical facility but died 30 minutes after the 12:15 p.m. attack, the military said.

A Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier was killed Monday in a similar attack, also in northern Baghdad.

This month, 25 U.S. service members have died in Iraq, and 4,176 have died since the Iraq war began.

CNN's Yousif Bassil contributed to this report.

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