At least nine killed in Baghdad suicide blast

At least nine people were killed and 19 wounded when a suicide truck bomber struck a car park in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad today, police and hospital officials said.

The attack occurred about 9.50am local time at the College of Economic Sciences as students were arriving for class at the campus in the Iskan neighbourhood in western Baghdad.

The neighbourhood is largely Shiite, but the students are religiously mixed, including Shiites, Sunnis and some Christians.

Police said they also discovered a booby-trapped ambulance about 500 yards away and they were trying to defuse it.