Baghdad suicide bomber kills 11 at prison/The Associated Press

Iraqi soldiers search a car at a Baghdad checkpoint on Sunday, but they were unable to prevent a deadly suicide bombing on Monday. Iraqi soldiers search a car at a Baghdad checkpoint on Sunday, but they were unable to prevent a deadly suicide bombing on Monday. (Saad Shalash/Reuters )

A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 11 people, Iraqi officials said.

The attack in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometres north of the capital, is the third major attack in about a week in Iraq, and raises questions about the ability of the nation's security forces to protect the country after U.S. troops leave in just over a month.

A police officer said the attacker struck the main gate of al-Hout prison at 8 a.m. local time, when many employees and guards were on their way to work. Six policemen were among the dead and the rest were civilians, he added. At least 21 people were wounded.

Two health officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the causality figures.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Violence has ebbed across Iraq since the height of the fighting, but deadly bombings and shootings still occur almost daily as U.S. troops prepare to leave.

Vehicles destroyed by a suicide car bomb explosion are towed away in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison north of Baghdad on Monday, killing and wounding scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Last Saturday a string of explosions hit a market in Baghdad and an area on the city's western outskirts, killing at least 15 people. Three days earlier, a triple bombing in the southern city of Basra killed 19 people.

Iraqi security officials maintain that they are fully prepared for the American withdrawal, which is required under a 2008 security pact between the U.S. and Iraq. About 15,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000.

Many Iraqis, however, are concerned that insurgents may use the transition period to launch more attacks in a bid to regain their former prominence and destabilize the country.

© The Associated Press, 2011
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19 killed in Basra blasts(CNN)

AP Photo

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Many of the dead are police and security officers, authorities say
* More explosives detonate as security forces investigate two earlier blasts
* 67 are wounded and at least 19 are killed, police say

Baghdad  -- At least 19 people were killed and 67 others were wounded Thursday in three explosions in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, two police officials said.
A roadside bomb and a motorcycle exploded in quick succession in a busy commercial district that includes shops and restaurants, the officials said.
When curious onlookers and Iraqi security forces arrived to the scene to investigate, another motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated, causing most of the casualties, police said. A number of Iraqi police and army security officers were among the dead, the officials said.
The oil-rich, predominantly Shiite city of Basra is about 500 km (310 miles) south of Baghdad.

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Suicide bombers, attacks hit Baghdad police, 28 dead

A soldier and policemen inspect the site of a bomb attack at a police station in Baghdad's Hurriya district October 12, 2011. Two suicide car bombers and a car bomb hit police in separate districts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding around 60, interior ministry and police sources said. REUTERS/Stringer

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Suicide bombers and roadside blasts targeted police across Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens on the second day of serial bombings in the Iraqi capital in less than a week.
The string of apparently coordinated assaults heightened worries about the ability of Iraq's security forces to contain a stubborn insurgency, despite a drop in violence as the last U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of this year.
One bomber rammed an explosives-filled vehicle into a police station in central Alwiya district, killing 14 including 8 police and wounding 28, and another blew up his car at a police building in northwestern Hurriya, killing 8 people and wounding 27, police and hospitals said.
"A car approached and... the driver smashed through the checkpoint and exploded the car when he hit a concrete barrier," Police Lt. Nadeer Adel told Reuters. "Smoke was everywhere, we all took cover. Minutes later we found a crater and some of our police were dead."
The Hurriya blast burned out police vehicles and damaged the station's blue protective blast walls next to the large crater in the road. In other districts blasts blew out windows from nearby homes and shops, scattering streets with debris.
A car bomb also targeted a police patrol in southern Ilaam district, killing at least three, while a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in Hurriya, killing one civilian and injuring 12 people, mostly soldiers, police said.
Two police officers were killed and seven people wounded when a roadside bomb hit another police patrol in the mainly Shi'ite Washash district in western Baghdad.
None of Iraq's insurgent or militia groups claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suicide bombings are usually the hallmark of Iraq's al-Qaeda affiliates who often target local authorities.
At least 10 people were killed Monday in three successive blasts in Washash district. The first blast was followed by two more when emergency services arrived at the site to tend to the wounded.
SECURITY JITTERS
The two days of Baghdad attacks came just after the government said it was postponing the army's handover of security in the cities to the police because it was concerned over their readiness.
The number of bombings and attacks in Iraq has fallen sharply from its peak during the sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamists tied to al-Qaeda and radical Shi'ite militias are still a threat in the OPEC producer.
Insurgents this year have increasingly targeted local security forces and local government offices outside the capital in what Iraqi officials say is an attempt to show that the government cannot provide security as U.S. troops leave.
More than eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the last 44,000 U.S. troops are preparing to pull out of Iraq when a bilateral security pact expires, though Baghdad and Washington are in talks about whether some will stay on as trainers.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this week U.S. troops might stay on as trainers but would not be given the legal immunity Washington demands and should find other ways to be involved in training. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insists on full protection for any U.S. personnel.

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