A car bomb exploded Saturday in front of a police station in Iraq's third largest city, killing at least nine people and wounding 45 others, witnesses and hospital staff said.

An Iraqi man walks among debris Thursday Jan. 29, 2004 which remained at the site of Wednesday's explosion at a Baghdad hotel. A suicide car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in central Baghdad Wednesday, partially destroying the three-storey building and killing four people, including the suicide bomber. [AP Photo]

Witnesses in Mosul saw severed limbs and decapitated bodies on the street in front of the police station. Windows of buildings were shattered and plumes of smoke could be seen in the area.

Staff at the Republican Hospital in Mosul said nine people including civilians and policemen were killed and 45 others were wounded.

Saturday was a pay day and the police station was crowded with staff at the time of the midmorning attack, said police Lt. Mohammed Fadil.

Some witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared that a car drove through a security barricade in front of the police station before exploding. This could not be independently confirmed.

One policeman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the blast was so powerful that there were casualties inside the police station building.

The police station is next to the University of Mosul campus. Mosul is about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The attack occurred a day before the start of the four-day Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, which is marked at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The feast, a major Muslim holiday, commemorates the Quranic account of God allowing the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice a sheep instead of his son Ismail. The Old Testament account says another son, Isaac, was spared.

Police stations have been the frequent targets of insurgents fighting U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last April. Many of the attacks have been carried out through car bombings and roadside bombs that have killed scores of civilians.

In the deadliest insurgent attack since the capture of Saddam on Dec. 13, a suicide car bombing at the gates of the U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad left at least 31 people dead and more than 120 injured.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+New bird flu cases found in Hubei, Hunan ( 2004-01-30) +Top US official questions motives behind referendum plans ( 2004-01-31) +China announces a new confirmed SARS case ( 2004-01-31) +Study reveals SARS virus pattern ( 2004-01-30) +US pressing EU to uphold arms embargo against China ( 2004-01-31)		+Iraq car bomb kills 9, injures 45 ( 2004-01-31) +9/11 panel details missteps in attacks ( 2004-01-31) +Kerry focuses on Bush ahead of primaries ( 2004-01-31) +Karzai: US airstrike killed 10 Afghans ( 2004-01-31) +MyDoom worm spreads as hunt for author intensifies ( 2004-01-31)