BAGHDAD - Nine people were killed and 22 wounded on Thursday in a suicide truck bomb attack on a police station near the Syrian border in northwestern Iraq, local police said. ‘The bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the building after police opened fire on him,’ Brigadier General Mohammed Al Waga told AFP. He said five police officers were among the dead in the attack in Rabiaa, which also left 15 police wounded.
Separately, the US military announced the arrest of 16 presumed ‘terrorists’ during raids in Baghdad’s Shia Muslim bastion of Sadr City. It said those arrested were suspected of belonging to a cell known for transporting arms and EFP-type explosives from Iran to Iraq and sending activists to Iran for training. EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, are a kind of bomb that ejects a lump of molten copper capable of piercing armour.