Truck bomb kills nine in Baghdad

BAGHDAD – A white fuel tanker rigged with explosives plowed toward a police station in southwest Baghdad early yesterday, exploding in flames and killing nine people and wounding about 60 others, Iraqi officials and witnesses said.

The morning blast outside the police station in the Seidiyeh neighbourhood, the latest in a string of deadly attacks on police, came as officers gathered to receive their daily assignments. “We were all standing in a row, listening to our officer as he gave us our assignment for the day,” said Mehdi Salah Abed Ali, 32, lying in a bed at al-Yarmuk hospital, a bandage around his leg.”There were many policemen standing in the square when the tanker exploded,” he said.The explosion took place just after 8h00.Insurgents throughout Iraq have used car bombs roadside bombs and other weapons to target police, whom they view as collaborators with US forces.In another such attack, the body of Lt Col Nafi al-Kubaisi, the police chief of the town of Heet, was discovered yesterday at a market in nearby Fallujah, police said.Al-Kubaisi was kidnapped Saturday from his police station, said police Capt Nasir Abdullah.Also yesterday, six cars filled with waving Filipino soldiers left their camp in Hillah, south of Baghdad, after paying an “exit call” on the Polish commander at the base.The troops were the last members of a 51-strong Philippine contingent that was pulled out of the country to meet the demands of kidnappers holding a Filipino truck driver hostage.- Nampa-AP”We were all standing in a row, listening to our officer as he gave us our assignment for the day,” said Mehdi Salah Abed Ali, 32, lying in a bed at al-Yarmuk hospital, a bandage around his leg.”There were many policemen standing in the square when the tanker exploded,” he said.The explosion took place just after 8h00.Insurgents throughout Iraq have used car bombs roadside bombs and other weapons to target police, whom they view as collaborators with US forces.In another such attack, the body of Lt Col Nafi al-Kubaisi, the police chief of the town of Heet, was discovered yesterday at a market in nearby Fallujah, police said.Al-Kubaisi was kidnapped Saturday from his police station, said police Capt Nasir Abdullah.Also yesterday, six cars filled with waving Filipino soldiers left their camp in Hillah, south of Baghdad, after paying an “exit call” on the Polish commander at the base.The troops were the last members of a 51-strong Philippine contingent that was pulled out of the country to meet the demands of kidnappers holding a Filipino truck driver hostage.- Nampa-AP