Car bombings in Iraq kill at least nine

15 December 2003
Two car bombings on 15 December killed at least nine people in Iraq, a day after US officials in the country announced the arrest of former president Saddam Hussein. In one incident, a car bomb detonated outside a local police station in the village of Husseiniyah, some 25 kilometres north of Baghdad. Reports suggest that at least eight people - the bomber and seven victims - died in the blast, and that about 20 people were injured.

In the second bombing, a car exploded in central Baghdad outside a police station, killing the driver and wounding at least eight police officers and four bystanders.

US President Bush on 14 December warned that Saddam's capture would not put an end to militant attacks in Iraq. 'The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq,' Bush said. 'We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East.'

In a separate incident, four US soldiers were injured on 14 December when two military convoys were attacked by militants on the outskirts of the Kuwait City. 'There were two attacks by small arms fire,' a US military spokesman told Reuters. 'The soldiers were slightly wounded, minor injuries, from glass that was broken from the gunshots that hit the trucks. The soldiers are okay now.'

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