Agence France-Presse,
TIKRIT, Iraq (AFP): A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people and wounded 80 on Wednesday when he slammed his explosives-laden truck into a police station in the northern town of Baiji, medics and police said.
Doctor Saad Jasim from Baiji General Hospital confirmed the attack and said his medical facility had received 20 bodies of people killed in the blast. Eighty more wounded had also been admitted.
“The toll is expected to rise as many people are trapped in the debris of the police station. The majority of the victims are civilians,” he told AFP, adding that the dead included five police officers.
Baiji police Captain Saad Noori said the targeted police station was in the centre of a market in the town, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Baghdad.
“A big part of the police station has collapsed and lots of shops are damaged,” he said.
In a similar attack on June 24, 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber ploughed an explosives-laden oil tanker into the police headquarters in Baiji.
The oil refining town has regularly witnessed bomb attacks and the kidnapping of truck drivers transporting fuel products from the town to other parts of the country.
