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Two car bombs kill six, wound 25 in latest Iraq violence

A car bomb exploded outside a police academy yesterday, and when police set up a checkpoint to close the area, a second car bomb went off, authorities said. At least six Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded, a hospital official said.

The carefully coordinated attack by insurgents in Tikrit, former president Saddam Hussein's hometown, occurred as new recruits at the academy were about to travel to Amman, Jordan, for a training program, said police Lieutenant Shalan Allawi.

At Tikrit General Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Ayash said four policemen and two civilians were killed by the bombs, and 23 policemen and two civilians wounded. Tikrit is 130km north of Baghdad.

South of the capital, three insurgents were killed yesterday as the roadside bomb they were trying to plant in the town of Mahawil exploded, police said in the nearby city of Hillah.

The explosions were the latest in a series of stepped up attacks by insurgents, as a US-financed program trains Iraqi military and police recruits in the hope they can improve security in Iraq and one day replace the US-led coalition forces.

On Saturday, at least 16 people were killed, including a US soldier, as the insurgents struck across the country with a series of bomb attacks.

US forces captured six Iraqi men suspected in the downing of a civilian helicopter and the shooting death of the lone survivor. The suspects in the helicopter downing were caught Saturday after US soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were tipped off by an Iraqi civilian who told the Americans that he knew where insurgents had stashed a blue KIA pickup truck that was used in the attack and led them to the site, the military said in a statement.

Soldiers searched two nearby houses shortly after midnight Saturday, arresting three men and seizing bomb-making material in the first home. Three suspects were grabbed from the second residence and all were being questioned, the military said.

US forces did not identify the captives or say where they were taken into custody.

The Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter, flying from Baghdad to Tikrit, was shot down about 19km north of the capital on Thursday. The dead included six US bodyguards for US diplomats, three Bulgarian crew members and two security guards from Fiji.

Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack and released video to support their claims.

The aircraft was owned by Heli Air of Bulgaria and chartered by Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation Inc. The six Americans were employed by Blackwater Security Consulting -- a subsidiary of security contractor Blackwater USA of Moyock, North Carolina. Four of its employees were slain and mutilated by insurgents in Fallujah a year ago.
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