15 killed outside Iraqi hospital

A pickup truck loaded with artillery shells exploded today near a hospital south of the Iraq capital Baghdad, killing at least 15 people.

The blast left a 10-metre wide crater, the Iraqi military said.

The bombing in Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, involved a pickup truck parked next to the city General Hospital, an Iraqi army officer said.

Several people were wounded, and the death toll was expected to rise, he said. Other reports said the explosion was a rocket attack.

The hospital was slightly damaged by flying debris and shrapnel, but shops and residential buildings bore most of the damage.

Many of those wounded were in their homes at the time of the blast.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint in southwest Baghdad, killing a policeman and four civilians and wounding 22 people, two police officials said.

Roadside bombs also killed two Iraqi policemen in separate attacks in the capital and Fallujah, 40 miles west of the capital, police said.