Dozens killed in string of attacks across Iraq

Officials say a series of coordinated attacks targeting Iraqi security forces have left at least 41 people dead.

At least 41 people have been killed and almost 200 others wounded in a series of apparently coordinated car bombings and other attacks across Iraq, security officials said. Officials say there has been a string of attacks targeting Iraqi security forces. Police and hospital officials say the deadliest attack occurred in northern Baghdad when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car in a parking lot behind a police station, killing 11 people, including four policemen and seven civilians. Twenty-one people were wounded in the attack. The blast took place in Baghdad's northern Qahira district, an Interior Ministry source and police sources said. The bomber blew the truck up near the police station, causing part of the building to collapse and severely damaging surrounding houses, the Interior Ministry source said. Officials say two more policemen also were killed today, one in a car bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk and another in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The attacks come as the US ends combat operations in Iraq. *Agencies