BAGHDAD – A car packed with explosives detonated near a passing police patrol Sunday in western Iraq, killing at least two people but missing the security chief who was the apparent target, a police official said.
The blast killed at least two guards accompanying police Col. Saad al-Shimari, who was not harmed. At least seven people were injured, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Al-Shimari heads police operations near Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold about 40 miles west of Baghdad. He has survived several previous assassination attempts.
Near the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb also exploded next to a crowd of Iraqi army recruits, killing one person and injuring 19, said a Mosul police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. The attack occurred about three miles east of the city, which is considered the last urban major urban base for Sunni insurgents.
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