| A suicide bomber exploded a white Oldsmobile outside a police station in this northern city yesterday, killing at least seven policemen and wounding as many as 52 other people. It was the fifth suicide attack in Iraq this month. The bomber detonated his 1990 car as police were changing shifts at Rahimawa station, according to the station’s chief, Colonel Adel Ibrahim. Colonel Thamer Abdul-Masih said the bomber’s car followed policemen driving to the station in a Kurdish neighborhood and "ran into the last car in the convoy and exploded." US command in Baghdad said Iraqi police fired on the car but were unable to stop it. Police Chief Torhan Yousef said seven policemen and the bomber were killed and 52 people were wounded. The US military said 35 people were wounded. The blast devastated nearby buildings and injured civilians in a passing bus. "I fell on the floor of the bus," said Awen Aras, 11, as she lay in a hospital bed, her leg in a cast. "Everything was flying around me after I heard a very loud explosion. There was a big fire, and policemen carried me off the bus." |