November 17, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1429

BAQUBA, Nov 16: A suicide car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Iraq’s volatile Diyala province on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, including seven policemen, a security official said.

Police Major Hassan al-Kurawi said another 20 people were wounded in the attack, which took place east of the provincial capital Baquba hours after Iraq’s cabinet approved a wide-ranging military pact that would have all US troops withdraw by the end of 2011.

Firas al-Dulaimi, a doctor at Baquba General Hospital said his hospital was still receiving victims but declined to give a specific number of casualties.

Diyala province northeast of Baghdad is one of the most dangerous parts of the country and still sees near-daily attacks despite improvements in security elsewhere in the war-torn country.

Earlier on Sunday, a roadside bomb at a police checkpoint in Baghdad killed three people and wounded another seven, a security official said.

Two of those killed on Sunday were members of an Awakening Council, one of several Sunni militias largely made up of former insurgents who have allied with US forces over the past two years to battle Al-Qaeda in Iraq.—AFP