AFP

BAGHDAD A CAR bomb apparently targeting a local police chief killed five people and wounded 10, while another bomb left one man dead in central Iraq on Wednesday, police and medical officials said.

“Five people were killed and 10 wounded by a car bomb” that exploded near the town of Dhuluiyah, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad, a senior police officer in nearby Samarra said.

The five dead were all civilians, he said.

A medical official in Dhuluiyah hospital confirmed that the facility received five dead and 10 wounded.

The police officer said the explosion took place at about 8:30 am (5:30 GMT) as Dhuluiyah police chief Colonel Qandil Khalil’s convoy was passing by.

It was the second attack against Khalil’s convoy this year, after a previous car bombing in January that he also survived.

Dhuluiyah is part of Sunnimajority Salaheddin province.

It was an Al Qaeda stronghold after the 2003 US-led invasion before the government took control with the help of tribal militias.

Meanwhile, a man was killed by a magnetic “sticky bomb” attached to a car in central Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, a police lieutenant colonel said. Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba general hospital confirmed the man’s death.

Violence is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing 112 Iraqis in March.