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Truck bomb kills 8 in Iraqi police post attack

A SUICIDE truck bomber plowed through a sandbag barrier to strike at a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding 12, United States and Iraqi officials said.

It was yet another sign that security forces have still not managed to stamp out extremists in Mosul, only three months before US troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

The bomber broke through the first checkpoint on the station's perimeter, which was made of sandbags, then detonated his explosives when he reached the concrete wall a few meters away from the building, local police said.

The attack occurred about 6:30am at the Mahta police station in central Mosul. Nobody has claimed responsibility but vehicle bombings are the signature attacks of Sunni insurgents.

The British military, meanwhile, transferred command of the oil-rich southern province of Basra to the US in the latest step toward the withdrawal of the remaining 4,100 British troops from Iraq by midsummer.

The British troops will be withdrawn in phases, with combat operations due to end before June and all but about 400 troops withdrawn by the end of July. Those staying behind will be involved in training Iraqis, the British Ministry of Defence said.

"As the Iraq people continue to stand on their own, we will support them and we will stand together shoulder-to-shoulder united against our common enemies and committed to peace and prosperity," the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, said at a ceremony to mark the Basra handover.

Britain, which had been a staunch US ally since the March 2003 invasion, handed over security responsibilities in Basra to the Iraqis late last year but continued to maintain its presence on a base at the airport outside the city.

The British military has reported 179 deaths since the war started.




 

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