Baghdad fuel tanker blast kills 17

THE massive blast when a petrol tanker exploded in a fireball after colliding with a bus in the centre of Baghdad yesterday, killing 17 Iraqis, was an accident, said US military investigators.

Iraqi officials, however, said it was a suicide bomb run targeting a nearby police station.

“It was a fuel truck that had a traffic accident, caught fire and exploded,” said Captain Jason Beck of the 1st Armoured Division, which oversees security in Baghdad. “There was no evidence of a bomb.”