Rocket blast kills Iraqi police

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At least eight policemen in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have been killed while defusing rockets that were primed to fire, officials say.

More than two dozen other people were wounded in the explosion in a Shia district in the east of the city.

The cache of rockets was found by Iraqi security forces after an attack on nearby Iraqi and US military bases.

A bomb disposal squad was trying to defuse the rockets when they exploded, a military official said.

"Some of the rockets had been fired," an Iraqi police officer told AFP news agency.

"As they were trying to defuse the others, there was a mishandling and they blew up."

Militant attacks across Iraq are down 60% since 30,000 additional US troops were posted to the country last year, the US military says.

A fragile sense of security has begun to emerge as the bloodshed in Baghdad has apparently diminished.

However, twin bombings of crowded pet markets in Baghdad on 1 February killed at least 98 people - the deadliest bombings in the capital in months.