43 killed in Iraq bomb blasts

BAGHDAD - Bomb blasts targeting police stations in several Iraqi cities killed at least 43 people, including two children, and injured dozens Wednesday.

At least 17 policemen were killed and 23 injured in the city of Kut, which lies some 170 km north-east of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a police station.

A car bomb also exploded near a police station in the capital Baghdad, killing at least 11 and injuring more than 30 people. Witnesses said four policemen were among the dead.

Seven people were killed and 25 were injured in another car bombing at a market in Karbala, an official said. The blast occurred near a police station in the city, which lies about 110 km south of Baghdad.

In Fallujah, west of the capital, at least three people were killed in several bomb attacks. A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two children and injured several people outside the western city. Police in the area said an armed militant was killed while planting an explosive.

In Ramadi, a city also to the west of the capital, a car bomb killed three people, two of them policemen.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, one person was killed and nine injured by a car bomb, police said.

A car bomb in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, located some 57 km north-east of Baghdad, killed one woman and injured 18 people.

US troops in Iraq have now fallen below 50,000, its lowest level since the 2003 invasion. Combat operations are officially set to conclude at the end of this month with all US combat soldiers having left the country last week.