BAGHDAD, June 6: Two US soldiers and at least four Iraqis died on Sunday in an attack on a Baghdad training centre for the Iraqi army, while to the south of the capital
, an attack on a police station claimed the lives of a dozen Iraqi policemen, various sources reported.
Also in Baghdad, four employees of a private security company were killed when their convoy was attacked. Two Poles and two Americans were killed, according to Polish radio reports citing foreign ministry sources in Warsaw.
The car bomb exploded in front of the training centre constructed by the US in Taji, just north of Baghdad, according to a US spokesperson. At least 10 Iraqis were wounded.
In Mussayyab, south of the capital, insurgents attacked and captured a police station, locking up an undetermined number of policemen in station cells before destroying the building with explosives. Around 12 policemen died, according to al-Arabiya news television.
A senior doctor in Mussayyab, Mohammed al-Janabi, said at least six Iraqis were killed and 11 wounded in the station attack. At least one of the assailants was killed. Al-Janabi said attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the station before taking control. They then planted explosives and destroyed the building.
The attack was the second on the station within a month. Witnesses in eastern Baghdad told Arab media a US convoy was attacked and that one soldier died. Two previous attacks in the area on Friday and Saturday had killed seven soldiers.
An Iraqi oil ministry source said two oil pipes near the Mussayyab bridge were destroyed by explosives. The pipes were part of a line connecting southern fields to the central region. "The explosions caused huge quantities of oil to leak into agricultural land, polluting large pieces of land and orchards," the source said.
ZARQAWI'S CLAIM: A statement purported to be from a group headed by Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who Washington suspects of links to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the car bombing, describing it as a suicide attack. -dpa/ Reuters
