A suicide truck bomber killed 12 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 30 in an attack on an army checkpoint south of Baghdad today, police said.
There was some confusion over whether the huge explosion happened in Jurf al-Sakhar near the predominantly Shia city of Hilla, 100km south of the capital, or nearby al-Iskandiriya. Soldiers were digging through the rubble and the death toll was expected to rise, police said.
Meanwhile six civilian detainees were killed and at least 50 wounded when rockets or mortars were fired into the US-run Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq today, the US military said.
Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said the "indirect fire" attack involved an unspecified number of mortar rounds or rockets fired into the prison but he gave no further details.