Baghdad car-bomb attack fails

A huge explosion rattled south-east Baghdad today in what authorities believed to have been a failed car-bomb attack on a police station full of US soldiers and Iraqi police, local police said.

A white Volkswagen was destroyed and a badly mangled and headless body lay nearby, said police Sergeant Adel Shakir.

He said the body was thought to have been one of two men who were attempting to get the explosive-packed car near the station.

US forces cordoned off the area.

“We heard the sound of the explosion while we were inside the police station. We went to the scene and found a headless body lying near the car which was blown apart. The people around us said there was someone else trying to escape. We found him and arrested him. He is in custody now,” Shakir said.

There was no immediate comment from the US military.