BASRA, Iraq (AFP) - A car bomb exploded at a bus station in the south Iraq city of Basra on Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding 16, the head of the Basra provincial council security committee said.

The bombing at the bus station in Basra, the main southern port, came soon after another that exploded in the centre of the city at about 11am (4pm Singapore time) that caused no casualties, Mr Ali al-Maliki said.

Attacks in Basra are relatively rare compared with other areas of Iraq, especially the centre, west and north.

Violence has decreased from its peak in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian bloodshed raged between Sunni and Shiite Arabs, but 10 years after the United States-led invasion attacks remain common, killing 220 people last month, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources.