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M. Continuo

Five Iraqi police killed in Baghdad bomb blast


    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed five Iraqi police officers and wounded 14 others near a Baghdad market on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said, a day after a spate of attacks that killed more than 120 people.

    Police were lured to the scene by the explosion of a first roadside bomb in the Doura district of southern Baghdad and were caught in the detonation of a second, the source said.

    A police source said six officers were killed in the blasts and another 15 were wounded.

    Authorities blamed al Qaeda militants for a wave of attacks on Monday, including assaults by gunmen on security checkpoints in Baghdad and car bombings in the southern town of Hilla and the southern oil city of Basra.

    U.S. and Iraqi officials said the attacks appeared aimed at showing that Sunni Islamist insurgents were still a potent force after a series of setbacks in recent weeks, including a raid that killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

    In all, Monday's attacks killed at least 125 people and wounded more than 600.

    Tensions have been running high since a March 7 parliamentary election that produced no outright winner. The results have still not been certified.

    (Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Jon Boyle)