Sixteen people were killed in clashes between local police and guards of a Sunni mosque in the center of Iraq's southern city of Basra on late Saturday night, a police source said on Sunday.

The clashes erupted after Iraqi police stormed a Sunni mosque in central Basra, said the source, adding that 16 people, some of them unarmed worshippers were killed and a number of others wounded.

The attack came hours after a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in central Basra, killing about 27 people and wounding over 60 others.

The bloody incidents in Basra, the second largest city in Iraq, occurred after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a state of emergency in the city on May 31 in a bid to rein in the unrest there.

Basra, a key oil and port city in Iraq, has enjoyed relative calm since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

About 8,000 British troops are currently deployed there.

The security situation has deteriorated sharply in recent months due to criminal gangs and power struggle among Shiite factions, which cast a pall over the smooth flow of oil exports accounting for a big chunk of the country's revenue.

Source: Xinhua