9 killed in car bombing outside restaurant in Iraq's Tikrit

At least nine people were killed and 15 others injured in a car bomb explosion outside a restaurant in the city of Tikrit, the capital of Iraq's Salahudin province, on Thursday, a provincial police said.

The blast occurred about local time 11:10 a.m. (0810 GMT) at the al-Ennab restaurant in central Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, killing four police officers and five civilians and wounding 15 others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blast targeted the restaurant which is usually attended by police officers and businessmen in the Sunni dominated province, the source said.

The blast destroyed part of the restaurant and several nearby shops and buildings and left four vehicles charred at the scene, the source added.

Sporadic attacks still common in the Iraqi cities more than four months after the country held its landmark parliamentary election which is widely expected to shape the political landscape of the war-torn country.

Source: Xinhua