MAHAWIL, Iraq, Aug 5 (APF) - At least nine people were killed and more than 20 wounded Thursday when gunmen opened fire and a suicide bomber blew up a minibus outside an Iraqi police station, south of Baghdad, police said.
Four insurgents were shot dead when gunmen drove up to the station and opened fire at officers outside, said a police colonel at the scene on condition of anonymity. The assailants fled after the brief exchange of fire.
Five minutes later, when a small minibus hurtled towards the building, five policemen were killed when the driver blew himself up, the colonel added.
He said 18 policemen were among at least 21 wounded.
"A small minibus came directly up to the police station. The policemen tried to stop it, but it exploded," said a spokesman for the interior ministry on condition of anonymity.
"There was a suicide bomber in the minibus," he added.
A health ministry official had said five people were killed and 24 wounded in the blast.
US-backed Iraqi police are frequent targets in the persistent insurgency dogging the country.
On July 28, a massive suicide bombing outside a police station in the flashpoint city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed 70 people, many of them volunteers seeking to join the fledgling security force.