Iraq suicide bomber breaks through protection barrier

A suicide truck bomber smashed through a sandbag barrier to hit a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today killing at least eight people.

It was yet another sign that security forces have still not managed to stamp out extremists in Mosul, only three months before US troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

Meanwhile Britain’s military transferred coalition command of the oil-rich southern province of Basra to the United State in the latest step toward the full withdrawal of the remaining 4,000 British troops by the end of May.

The bomber in Mosul broke through the first checkpoint on the station’s perimeter, which was made of sandbags, then detonated his explosives when he reached the concrete wall a few yards away from the building.

At least four Iraqi police officers and four civilians were killed while three Iraqi policemen and nine civilians were wounded.

No-one claimed responsibility for the attack but vehicle bombings are the signature work of suspected Sunni insurgents who remain active in Mosul, 225 miles from of Baghdad.

The bombing is the latest in a string of attacks in Iraq this month that has raised fears insurgents are trying to regroup as the US prepares to leave Iraqi cities in three months and the entire country by the end of 2011.