Seven people were killed, including four police officers, when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the compound of a police station in northern Iraq on Tuesday, a police official said. According to Reuters, 17 people were wounded in the blast in the northern city of Mosul.
"The suicide bomber even talked to the guards at the back door, claiming he had a job to conclude in the compound. He was stopped from entering but managed to break through the gate and blow himself up," said the senior police official.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi army on Monday pulled back most of its troops from central Baghdad after deadly weekend violence triggered by the arrest of an anti-Qaeda militia leader on suspicion of murder and extortion. "The situation is stable and we have begun to withdraw our troops from the neighbourhood" of Fadel, said Baghdad military command spokesman Major General Qasim Atta. "The area is now under the control of the army," Atta said, according to AFP.
"We will no longer give the Sahwa any powers in Fadel. The army will assume control and the Sahwa will be part of the security services."
