12 Iraqi soldiers killed by suicide bomb

A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad today, killing at least 12 soldiers and wounding 30, police said.

The explosion occurred just after 5pm local time near the gate of the army unit's headquarters in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the capital, according to provincial police spokesman Captain Muthanna Khalid said.

Earlier, a parked car struck a convoy of Iraqi police commandos and gunmen opened fire on police on a foot patrol in a mostly Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad, police said.

Diplomatic tensions also rose, with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoning the Turkish charge d'affaires and calling for an immediate halt to cross-border shelling into northern Iraq, saying such actions "undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship".

The statement was the first government confirmation of the shelling.

Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq and scattered shelling has been reported while its leaders debate whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets.

The car bombing, which happened at about 9am in Baghdad's north-eastern neighbourhood of Shaab, killed one Interior Ministry commando and a pedestrian, while six commandos and a pedestrian were wounded, police said.

It came about 90 minutes after gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on police on a foot patrol, killing one officer and wounding another, a police officer said.

On Friday, dozens of gunmen swooped into the home of Col. Ali Dilayan al-Jorani on the outskirts of Baqouba, in Diyala province 35 miles north-east of the capital, according to officers at the provincial police centre.

Al-Jorani was at work, but the heavily armed attackers killed his wife, two brothers and 11 guards and kidnapped three of his grown children, the police said, in a grisly example of the dangers facing Iraqi forces as they try to take over the country's security so American forces can leave.

Iraqi police are frequent targets of al-Qaida-linked insurgents bent on ending co-operation between government security forces and US troops in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

At least 751 Iraqi security personnel have been killed since a US-Iraqi security crackdown began on February 14.

During the same length of time immediately preceding February 14, at least 593 Iraqi security personnel were killed, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The actual number in both cases is likely higher as many killings go unreported or uncounted.

In all, at least 77 Iraqis were killed nationwide on Friday, most in devastating bombings to the north and south of the capital.