Guerrillas detonated a car bomb outside an Iraqi security force base just north of Baghdad yesterday, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the latest attack on Iraqis cooperating with occupying troops.
With the formal handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government less than four weeks away, Baghdad has seen a surge in deadly attacks in recent days.
The 15-nation UN Security Council was called into a special session yesterday amid signs that the US is close to securing agreement on a draft UN resolution on the future of Iraq after June 30.
"A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device was detonated," US Major Andreas Dekunpfy said at the scene of the blast at the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps base in Taji. US troops are also based nearby.
It was not clear whether the bombing was a suicide attack, a tactic regularly used by insurgents.
The US military said six people were killed, but hospital officials later said nine Iraqis were killed and 61 wounded.
On Saturday, two soldiers were killed and two wounded when a bomb was detonated near their convoy in the northeast of the capital. The previous day, five soldiers were killed in a guerrilla attack in the same area.
Insurgents also attacked foreigners traveling in civilian four-wheel drive vehicles on the airport road on Saturday. After the attack two vehicles were in flames and witnesses said they saw at least two bodies. The US military had no information.
South of Baghdad, gunmen burst into a police station in the town of Mussayab on Saturday and forced police into a cell before detonating explosives in the building, police said. They said at least 10 policemen and two civilians were killed.
Iraqi police and security personnel are regularly targeted by guerrillas, who have repeatedly threatened Iraqis who work with occupying troops and foreign organizations.
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