At least four people have been killed by a car bomb in a predominantly Shia district of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
At least 25 other people were wounded, including women and children, in the Thursday morning blast.
Police said the attack was outside a restaurant used by police and construction workers in the Shula district.
The casualties included both policemen and civilians.
The Iraqi government had declared Thursday - Christmas day - a national holiday to show what it said was its solidarity with other religious groups in Iraq.
While car bombs and suicide attacks still occur regularly in Iraq, the unprecedented levels of violence unleashed in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion have dropped recently.
PHOTO CAPTION
Residents gather at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad's Shula district December 25, 2008.
Al-Jazeera