Officials say a car bombing in a bustling area in central Baghdad has killed at least five people. A police officer says the parked explosives-laden vehicle went off on Thursday morning in Karrada neighborhood, near a commercial area and some government offices. Three civilians and two policemen were killed and at least 12 people were wounded in the explosion. A medical official confirmed the causality figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media. Since last year, Iraq has been seeing the worst level of violence since the nation emerged from Shiite-Sunni bloodletting in 2008. The U.N. says 8,868 people were killed in 2013, and more than 1,400 people were killed in January and February of this year.