Iraqi children die in mortar attack

A mortar shell targeting an Iraqi police station in central Iraq fell short, killing two children in a nearby house.

Regional police chief General Walid al-Azzawi said the mortar was fired at the station in Muqdadiyah, 57 miles north of Baghdad.

It fell on a house nearby, killing the children and wounding their father, he said.

Insurgents regularly target Iraqi security forces in a bid to destabilise the situation in the country.

Hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein last year.