BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint near Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 10 people, including the local police chief, an official said.
Fearing more attacks, authorities imposed a vehicle ban and closed all entrances to the targeted town of Hit, in Anbar province.
The attacker detonated his explosives belt after approaching the checkpoint, which was near a bridge, about 9 p.m., said the town’s administrator, Hikmat Jubeir.
Jubeir said six policemen were among those killed, including the town’s police chief, Col. Khalil Ibrahim. Four civilians also were killed and 12 other people were wounded, he said.
In political developments, loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stepped up their opposition to a long-term security deal being negotiated between the Iraqi government and the United States.
Senior Sadrists, including lawmakers Falah Hassan Shanshal and Maha Adel al-Douri, met in the cleric’s Sadr City office in Baghdad and called on the Iraqi government to stop the negotiations and to hold a public referendum on the issue. The Associated Press
