Six people were wounded when a roadside bomb blast missed a convoy to hit civilians in southern Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.

An explosive charge went off shortly after a convoy of sport utility vehicles, usually used by foreign security contractors, passed by, striking civilian cars and wounding six people, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi police and ambulances rushed to the area to evacuate wounded people, he said.

The attack came hours before the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki was expected to unveil his new plan for national reconciliation to the parliament, a move in which he hopes to curb the flaring Sunni Arab-led insurgency and help to bridge the country's deepening communal divisions.

Source: Xinhua