Street crime and vendettas appear to be soaring in Iraq as sectarian fighting wanes and the US military prepares to withdraw its forces by the end of next year. Criminals and insurgents are exploiting security gaps as Iraqi politicians bicker over the formation of a new government more than three months after parliamentary elections.

None of Iraq's main political groups won a clear majority in the March 7 vote and the new 325-seat legislature has met only once since then. It is scheduled to meet next July 14.

Police investigating the Monday morning shooting in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood said the two female victims were 15- and 19-year-old relatives. They said a 14-year-old brother of the younger victim was also killed and their mother was wounded.

The woman's husband is suspected of being behind the killing, possibly to try to restore the family's honor, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An official with Iraq's Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that attacks on suspected brothels in the capital and in the southern city of Basra have been on the rise this year. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, blamed extremists for the attacks.

While sectarian violence in Iraq has significantly subsided in the last three years, violent crime has surged. Iraqi security forces have blamed a series of bank robberies and attacks on gold jewelers and money changers on Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents' intent on filling their coffers for future attacks.

Also Monday, two members of a government-backed Sunni militia known as Sons of Iraq that has fought Al-Qaeda militants were killed when two mortars exploded near the checkpoint they were manning near the town of Dawr, 130 km north of Baghdad, police said.

In Baghdad, a civilian and a policeman were killed and nine were wounded when a bomb exploded in central Baghdad when police tried to defuse a bomb residents found in the garbage near a restaurant.

In a separate incident, an Iraqi security officer was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in western Baghdad, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.