A car bomb exploded outside a police academy in northern Iraq today, and when police set up a checkpoint to close off the area, a second car bomb exploded nearby, authorities said.
At least six Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded. The co-ordinated attack in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, occurred just as new police recruits were about to leave the academy and travel to Amman, Jordan, for a training programme, said police Lt Shalan Allawi. Tikrit is 80 miles north of Baghdad.
At Tikrit General Hospital, Dr Mohammed Ayash said four policemen and two civilians were killed by the bombs, and 23 policemen and two civilians wounded.
South of the capital, three insurgents were killed today as the roadside bomb they were trying to plant in the town of Mahawil exploded, police said.
The explosions were the latest in a series of stepped up attacks by insurgents, as a US-financed programme works hard to train new Iraqi military and police recruits to eventually replace coalition forces.
Yesterday, at least 16 people were killed, including an American soldier, as the insurgents struck across the country with a series of bomb attacks.
AP