U.S. occupation soldiers in Iraq still unable to provide security for the people or for themselves

KHALDIYAH, Iraq, December 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A car bomb killed 17 policemen and wounded 30 others at a police station in western Iraq Sunday, December 14.

"An explosion went off near the gate of the station," police lieutenant Faiz Mohammad Motab told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It killed 17 and wounded 30 policemen, including senior officers and the ranks," he added.

"There's a big hole outside the gate about three or four meters across and more than two meters deep, and the outside wall was knocked down.

"We don't know what caused the blast," the police officer admitted, although witnesses earlier said it was a car bomb.

The casualties were rushed to the nearby Ramadi general hospital, 100 kilometers from Baghdad, witnesses said.

The blast left a charred wreck of a car and destroyed two other cars, AFP correspondents at the scene said.

It went off about 8:40 am (0540 GMT) at the station on the main road about 20 kilometers to the east of Ramadi, a military spokeswoman in Baghdad said.

U.S. armored vehicles blocked off the area and two tanks parked on the main road while two helicopters hovered overhead.

More than 100 U.S. troops had taken up position around the compound preventing anyone from approaching.

On September 15, Khaldiyah police chief Colonel Khdayyir Ali Mukhlif was killed when three assailant opened fire at his car.

In November, at least 18 people were killed in two car bomb attacks on police stations in the towns of Khan Bani Saad and Baquba, also located in the triangle.

In August, the chief of police in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was shot and critically wounded by unknown attackers and two of his bodyguards killed.