11 killed in suicide attack on police in Baghdad

A suicide attacker blew up his vehicle at a police station leaving 11 dead including women and children.

BAGHDAD: A suicide attacker blew up his vehicle at a police station in northeast Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 11 people, including women and children, and wounding dozens, security and medical officials said.

The attack took place around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) in Qahira, a mixed Sunni and Shiite neighbourhood in the Iraqi capital, an interior ministry official said.

"The attack left 11 dead and 38 injured. The victims include policemen and civilians," the official said, adding that several apartments near the police station were also badly damaged.

A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of at least two women and two children and that 44 wounded were receiving treatment.

Two homemade bombs elsewhere in central Baghdad on Wednesday wounded seven people, the interior ministry official added.

In the southern city of Basra, meanwhile, 12 people, including four police, were injured by a parked car bomb near a police station, a security official said.

The violence came one day after the US military announced that its troop strength in Iraq had been reduced to below 50,000 as Washington prepares to declare its combat mission over at the end of the month. The remaining troops will be deployed on an "advise and assist" mission until all US forces leave the country at the end of 2011.