By Xinhua
Tikrit : A suicide fuel tanker bomb struck a police checkpoint in the town of Beiji in Salahudin province, 200 km north of Baghdad, Friday killing 11 persons, nine of them policemen, and wounding eight, a source in the provincial police headquarters here said.
“A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden fuel tanker at a police checkpoint near the Mashallah Restaurant on the southern entrance of Beiji,” the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The powerful explosion killed nine policemen and two civilians and wounded eight civilians. A part of the nearby restaurant was damaged, the source said.
Iraqi security forces cordoned off the scene and ambulances rushed to the area to evacuate the wounded, he added.
The incident came a day after a roadside bomb killed Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, a key leader of an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes.
Abu Risha is the head of the Anbar Awakening Council, which is backed by the government and the US troops to fight the Al Qaida network in Iraq.