Baghdad: A suicide car bomber blasted a police checkpoint today outside the courthouse in Ramadi, killing up to six people and wounding as many as 22 in the first such attack in months in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold.

Also today, the US military reported that an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in a bombing in east Baghdad - another sign of the lingering dangers in Iraq despite the recent downturn in violence. The suicide bomber struck at midmorning, killing three policemen and three civilians and wounding 13,according to Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, a provincial police official. The US military said four people died, including the bomber, and 22 were wounded.

Suicide bombings, ambushes and killings used to be a daily feature of life in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, until Sunni tribesmen turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and helped American forces drive the extremists from the city.

Residents said Wednesday s attack was the biggest in the city since September 13 when the leader of the Sunni revolt, Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb planted near his home. The American soldier and Iraqi interpreter died yesterday during a blast as their patrol was returning to base, the US command said. Three Americans were also wounded, the military said.

Source : PTI