A SUICIDE CAR bomb explosion ripped through a police checkpoint in Baghdad today killing 23 people and wounding more than 40.
The suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at an entrance to the northwestern neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah according to a police colonel and an interior ministry official.
At least five of the those killed were policemen, as were eight of those wounded.
Police and medical sources said more than 40 people were wounded.
The predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah lies across the Tigris river from the mainly Sunni district of Adhamiyah.
It is frequently targeted when sectarian tension in the country is high.
The neighbourhood, which is home to one of the holiest Shiite shrines, is named after Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in that branch of Islam.
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