BAGHDAD, July 19 (AFP) - At least nine people were killed when a huge truck bomb ripped through the carpark of a Baghdad police station Monday, forcing a newly sovereign Iraq to confront yet another grisly scene of carnage.
The attack capped a week of at least seven car bombings that have left scores of people dead and injured and thrown up a serious challenge to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government, which took power just three weeks ago.
But as bomb smoke once more billowed into the Baghdad sky, Allawi flew out for a two-week trip around the region -- his first foreign outing since taking office.
Adding to the turmoil, a hostage drama refused to disappear with no news on a Filipino truck driver despite an agreement by Manila to withdraw its tiny military presence from Iraq by Monday in exchange for his life.
Burnt flesh mixed with mangled chunks of metal around a large crater carved out by the force of the suspected suicide bombing outside the police station in Baghdad's southern Saydia neighbourhood.
Scores of police cars and vans, the proud symbol of Iraq's fledgling security forces, lay in ruins, some ripped apart, others badly dented and most with their windscreens smashed.
"A truck, with someone behind the wheel, sped into the parking lot and exploded," said policeman Haitham Salmane.
The blast occured at about 8:20 am (0420 GMT) in between the police station carpark and a public garage with petrol pumps and a car wash. It also damaged other property over about a one-kilometre (about half-a-mile) radius.
Moments afterwards, a group of about 30 people, including two women and about a dozen boys, struck up a chant in support of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, before they were silenced by Iraqi national guardsmen firing into the air.
"The toll is nine dead and 62 injured, 25 of them are in a serious but stable condition," said doctor Hashem Jabbar, who works in a central department at the health ministry that collects tolls from Iraqi hospitals.
At least one of the dead was said to be a policemen.
Just 10 minutes after the bombing, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a fire station near the heavily-fortified compound that houses much of the US-led foreign presence in Baghdad, wounding one person, a US military spokesman said.
Allawi has insisted that the security situation in the country is improving with more police checkpoints on the streets and numerous successful raids in recent days that have netted hundreds of criminals and stockpiles of weapons.
But attacks targeting Iraq's new security forces as well as ministry officials, continue to grab headlines and cast doubt in the public's mind about the ability of their administration to end the 15-month insurgency bred during the US-led occupation.
For the next fortnight, however, the prime minister's attention will be focused on mending fences with other countries in the region during a Middle Eastern tour.
Allawi's first destination is Jordan where he is due to meet Prime Minister Faisal al-Faisal, but he also is due to visit a number of other countries including Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
As Iraq, which regained sovereignty exactly three weeks ago, struggles to revamp its image on the international stage, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced the appointment of 43 ambassadors.
"This is a crucial step that confirms the sovereignty of the Iraqi government and its complete control over its foreign policy," Zebari said.
The prime minister also leaves behind the ongoing hostage drama as the remnants of the Philippines' 51 soldiers and police beat a retreat one month earlier than scheduled.
Despite bowing to the hostage-takers' demands to pull out early -- a move that sparked criticism from the United States and Iraq -- there was no fresh news on the whereabouts of the 46-year-old Filipino father of eight.
There was also no news on a kidnapped Egyptian and a Bulgarian truck driver.
The latest bombing came one day after US aircraft, with permission from Allawi, pounded a suspected hideout of people linked to Islamic extremist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, killing 14 people.
Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, offered his own 285,000-dollar reward for the death of Allawi, according to a reported message posted on an Islamist website.