Car bomb kills 16 at police station

AN explosion at a police station in western Iraq yesterday killed 16 policemen and two civilians, including a seven-year-old girl, and wounded 33 more, the US military said.

The car bombing in Khaldiyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killed police officers, city workers and civilian bystanders, US Army Lt Col Jeff Swisher said.

"About 8:30am, a car bomb was detonated at Khaldiyah police station. We have some indication that it's a suicide bomber. But it's too early to give a final judgement," Lt Col Swisher told reporters at the scene.

An emergency room administrator at a hospital in the nearby city of Ramadi put the toll even higher, at 21 people killed and more than 20 injured.

Many victims were Iraqi police officers and workers who were sweeping the street outside the district police office, said hospital administrator Haitham Bahar Taha.

No American soldiers were in the area when the bomb exploded and none were hurt in the blast, the US military said.

US troops arriving on the scene blocked off the area and two helicopters hovered overhead. US soldiers and Iraqi police later surveyed the site of the blast, which left a huge crater in the road and collapsed a large section of the building's front wall. Several destroyed cars were scattered in the street.

Muthana Hameed, a local resident, said he saw a lot of bodies of police and municipal workers. A Khaldiyah policeman, Mohammed Abed, said an "unfamiliar" car was parked outside the station moments before the blast.

US troops have been targeted by suicide bombers three times in the past week in attacks that left dozens of soldiers injured and one killed.

Yesterday's bombing was the latest of several police station blasts that have killed dozens of police officers.