Suicide bomb rocks Mosul

2004-08-01 08:03

Mosul, Iraq - Four people were killed and more than 50 wounded Sunday when a suspected suicide bomb exploded outside a local police station in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, medics said.

"A car bomb exploded at 08:05 in front of the police station in Summer, eastern Mosul," said Captain Nidam Mohammed.

"There was a driver in the car. He sped up at great speed, so police opened fire to try to stop him and the car, a Japanese four-wheel drive, exploded before reaching the police station," he added.

"So far we have received four bodies," said an official at the city's morgue after the bombing.

A medic at Mosul's Salam hospital said "34 injured police and civilians" had been admitted for treatment, while doctors at the city's main hospital said another 17 people had been brought in with injuries from the attack.

The force of the blast ripped through the entrance of the building and gutted nearby cars, just four days after 70 people were killed in a suicide bombing outside a rapid reaction police unit in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.

Bombings and shootings frequently target Iraq's fledgling US-backed police and security forces

Last Monday, four people, including a child, were killed and five wounded when a suicide bomber blew a car up outside the main US military base in Mosul, the US military said.

- AFP