Bomb hits Iraq ambulance carrying pregnant woman

File picture shows an ambulance arriving at the scene of a bomb attack in Baghdad, on March 14, 2013. A bomb exploded near an ambulance taking a pregnant woman to hospital in Iraq on Monday, wounding her and killing two people, police and a doctor said. (AFP/File)

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) – A bomb exploded near an ambulance taking a pregnant woman to hospital in Iraq on Monday, wounding her and killing two people, police and a doctor said.

The blast near the northern city of Mosul also wounded the ambulance driver and killed a medic and a relative travelling with the pregnant woman, who was in labour at the time of the blast, the sources said.

The child, a boy, was delivered by Caesarian section and was in good health, a medical source said.

Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, is one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, with militants carrying out near-daily attacks.

Militants have a major presence in Mosul and are said to extort money from shop owners in the city.

Gunmen also killed a tribal sheikh and another man in Mosul on Monday, and a farmer near Baiji to its south.

With the latest violence, more than 590 people have been killed this month and over 4,400 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.