A car bomb explosion hit Iraq's southern city of Basra late Monday, leaving at least 10 people killed and more than 35 others wounded, local police source said.

"The latest report we got said 10 people were killed and more than 35 others were injured," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Several cars parked near the blast site were damaged in the explosion and Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene quickly, he added.

Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, has been the scene of a fierce clashes between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which have a strong presence in Iraq's second largest city.

Also in the day, two deadly car bomb explosions ripped through two Shiite holy city Najaf and Karbala, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 40 others.

Violence and sporadic high-profile attacks are still common in Iraqi cities as part of recent deterioration in security which shaped a setback to the efforts of the Iraqi government to restore normalcy in the country after violence-torn Iraq held parliamentary elections eight months ago.