Four killed in Iraq blasts

A series of bombings targeting security forces killed four people in two Iraqi cities today, officials said.

In the first attack, a parked car exploded near a police patrol in a main street in the centre of the western city of Ramadi, police said. One policeman was killed in the morning blast in the city that was once an al-Qaida hotbed.

An official in the nearby Ramadi hospital said five other policemen were seriously injured. Two passers-by were also hurt, he said.

Several hours later in Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-rigged belt at a checkpoint after policemen suspected him of being an insurgent and opened fire.

Baghdad police officials said two policemen and a passer-by were killed and nine others, including three policemen, were injured.

The casualties were confirmed by a medic at the capital’s al-Yarouk hospital.

Earlier in Baghdad, double blasts took place in the southern district of Karradah. The first bomb, which was planted under a parked car, caused no casualties.

The second blast came a few minutes later as police and security forces rushed to the scene. It injured six people including four security officers, police and health officials said.