Car bomb kills two in Baghdad

A car bomb exploded north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, killing two people and injuring four others, including a deputy provincial governor, police said.

The car exploded in Khalis, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, said General Waleed al-Azawi, chief of police for Diyala province.

Bassam al-Khadran, one of several deputy governors working in the province, was injured in the blast.

Both fatalities and the three other injured were al-Khadran’s bodyguards, al-Azawi said.

The car, laden with explosives, was believed to have been detonated by remote control as al-Khadran was travelling to work in a small convoy, al-Azawi said. It is not known who carried out the attack.

The US Army’s 1st Infantry Division, which is deployed throughout the area, had no immediate comment.

On August 9, a separate car bomb attack in Diyala killed seven police officers in an apparent attempt to assassinate another deputy governor, Aqil Hamid al-Adili, who was wounded in the blast.