Car bomb attack kills 19 Iraqis

At least 19 Iraqis, 18 of them National Guardsmen, have been killed in a car bomb explosion, the US military says. A suicide bomber set off the explosion next to an Iraqi security force bus near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, a US military spokesman said.

The attack happened in the area known as the Sunni Triangle, which has been the scene of repeated violence. Insurgents have staged a series of attacks in the run-up to nationwide elections planned for 30 January.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says this is one of the most deadly incidents in the recent spate of attacks, which are increasingly directed at Iraqis as well as American troops. Iraqi police and National Guards will be providing security during the elections.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4140767.stm

no national guard, or army.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 19 Iraqis -- all but one of them National Guards -- in another strike against Iraqis cooperating with American forces, the U.S. military said. Four Iraqi policemen were killed while on patrol in a separate attack.

Six guardsmen were also wounded in the car bomb blast near Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Neal E. O'Brien said. An Iraqi civilian was among the 19 killed in Balad while the other casualties were members of Iraq's 203rd National Guard Battalion. The driver of the vehicle also died.

In a separate attack Sunday against an Iraqi police vehicle in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, four policemen were killed and one was wounded, the military said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6727646/