Five dead in truck bomb blast

A suicide truck bomber struck a police station in a mainly Sunni area in southern Baghdad today, killing at least five people and wounding 17, police said.

The blast could be heard across the city and sent up a huge plume of black smoke.

The attacker detonated his explosives, which were hidden under a load of bricks, at the concrete blast walls protecting the gate of the Dora police station because he could not go any further, but the building was heavily damaged, police said.

Those killed included four policemen and one civilian, while 12 officers and five civilians were wounded, according to the authorities.

The explosion occurred nearly three hours after two mortar shells landed on a Shiite enclave elsewhere in Dora, killing at least three people and wounding seven, police said.