Three killed in Baghdad mortar barrage

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three people were killed and 15 wounded when a barrage of mortars landed near Baghdad's international airport on Monday, the Iraqi military said.

It was one of the deadliest such attacks in months in the capital.

Major-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Iraq's military in Baghdad, said the mortar bombs hit the mainly Sunni Khadhra district to the west of the airport in the south of the city.

Mortar attacks were a regular occurrence in the capital but have fallen dramatically in recent months, mirroring a general fall in violence across Iraq.

The Iraqi military said on Saturday that attacks in Baghdad had dropped by up to 80 percent thanks to a year-long security crackdown on feuding Sunni Arab and Shi'ite gunmen.