Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi survived an assassination attempt today, when a large car bomb exploded in his home street in central Baghdad, killing two people.
"I am fine. I was far away from the place where this explosion happened," Mr Abdul Mahdi said.
The car blew up near his house in an affluent part of the capital's Karrada district near the Tigris river, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky.
Hospital sources said the bodies of a policeman and one of the minister's bodyguards had been brought in from the scene.
Mr Abdul Mahdi is a senior official of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shi'ite Muslim party.
It was the third large explosion in the capital within a few hours as insurgent attacks rise around the country ahead of an expected offensive by US-led forces to capture the rebel-held towns of Falluja and Ramadi, west of Baghdad.