Iraqi officials say two car bombs in northern Iraq have killed at least five people and wounded 22 others.

The first attack in the northern city of Mosul Wednesday targeted an army patrol, killing three soldiers and wounding at least three civilians.

A second car bomb went off in the same neighborhood minutes after the first, killing two people and wounding several others.

Violence in Iraq has fallen since the height of sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, but militants still regularly carry out bombings and shootings.

The latest bombings are similar to a series of explosions in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, earlier this month that killed 16 people and wounded 40 others.

The Sunni militant group Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement issued Tuesday.

The statement said two bombs went off within 20 minutes of each other, and a third targeted an ambulance carrying wounded people to the hospital.