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Blast in north Iraq city kills 11 Iraq bomb explodes near school
(about 1 hour later)
At least 11 people have been killed and scores injured after a truck bomb exploded outside a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. A suicide bomber has blown up a truck near a police station and a school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least 12 people.
Among the casualties were children from a nearby school, officials said, without giving further details. More than 130 were injured in the blast, police said.
Six US soldiers were killed by roadside bomb south of Baghdad at the weekend. In other violence, the handcuffed bodies of 19 workers kidnapped north of Baghdad have been found.
Sen John McCain, who has been leading a congressional delegation visit to Baghdad, insisted the US-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad was working. US Senator John McCain, leading a congressional delegation to Baghdad, has insisted the US-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad is working.
Sen McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful, told a news conference on Sunday that there were "encouraging signs". The suicide bomber rammed a truck into concrete barriers surrounding Kirkuk's police criminal investigation department, detonating explosives that had been hidden under a load of flour.
More than 60 people were wounded in the Kirkuk blast, a local polcie commander told the AFP news agency. At least 20 children who had been playing at a nearby school were among the wounded, Brig Gen Sarhat Qadir said, but he could not say how many.
The bodies of 19 Shia workers from Baghdad's Shorja market were found on Monday, a day after they were kidnapped at a fake checkpoint, officials said.
Things are better and there are encouraging signs US Senator John McCain
Gunmen stormed their minibus on Sunday as they returned home to the restive northern province of Diyala.
The bodies were found handcuffed and blindfolded near a water treatment facility in Morariyah village, police said.
All had died from gunshot wounds to the head, hospital officials said.
Struggle continues
In Baghdad, Republican presidential hopeful Sen McCain told a news conference that there were "encouraging signs".
"Things are better and there are encouraging signs," he said.
"I've been here ... many times over the years. Never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able go out into the city as I was today.
"I'm not saying 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes,' 'dead-enders' or any of that."
Six US soldiers were killed in roadside blasts south of Baghdad at the weekend.
Four were died Sunday as they responded to an earlier blast that killed the first two, the US military said.
Iraqi figures estimate civilian deaths caused by violence across the country rose by 13% in March - to 1,861 - despite the security crackdown in Baghdad.Iraqi figures estimate civilian deaths caused by violence across the country rose by 13% in March - to 1,861 - despite the security crackdown in Baghdad.