At least one killed in suicide car bombing in northern Iraq

At least a policeman was killed and seven people wounded Thursday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting a police base in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, a provincial police source said.

The attack took place in the morning when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into the entrance of a police base in the al-Zanjili neighborhood in central Mosul, a source from Nineveh's police command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Several policemen were among the wounded by the blast that caused damages to the surrounding buildings, the source said, citing first police reports.

Nineveh province and its capital Mosul have long been a stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida militants. The province has been the scene of major security crackdowns by the U. S. troops and Iraqi security forces to uproot the insurgency which erupted shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Violence and sporadic high-profile attacks are still common in Iraqi cities, shaping a setback to the efforts of the Iraqi government to restore normalcy in the country after violence-torn Iraq held parliamentary elections more than seven months ago.

Source:Xinhua