Suicide car bomb kills at least 24 in Tikrit
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-11 13:46

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomb exploded in a small market near a police station in Saddam Hussein's hometown on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding 70, police said.

Police Lt. Col. Saad Daham said that security prevented the attacker from exploding the vehicle in front of the police station, but that the bomber swerved into a crowd of people at the nearby market.

The bomb exploded at 7:15 a.m., and many day laborers who had traveled to Tikrit from poor areas of Iraq were waiting at the market to be picked up for work at construction sites, Daham said.

He said at least 23 civilians and one policeman were killed, and 69 civilians and one policeman wounded. At Tikrit General Hospital, Dr. Faisal Mahmoud said the facility was too small to handle so many casualties.

Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, is a mostly Sunni city where Saddam and many of his relatives came from.

On Friday, a suicide car bomber driving a vehicle disguised as a taxi destroyed a police minibus at a checkpoint in Tikrit, killing at least eight people and wounding seven, officials said.

That prompted U.S. forces to step up security in the city and local police and officials to announce a new rule that bars anyone from driving alone in Tikrit.

The regulation was designed to make it easier for security forces to spot suicide car bombers, who generally act by themselves, before they race to a location and set off their explosives. It was not immediately clear why the regulation did not help prevent Wednesday's attack.