TIKRIT, Iraq, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A suicide car bomb detonated Friday at an Iraqi military checkpoint in Tikrit, north of Baghdad,and wounded 10 people including three civilians, police said.

    "The attack took place at 4:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers on the northern entrance of Saddam's presidential palace in Tikrit," US-Iraqi liaison office in Tikrit said in a statement.

    Seven soldiers and three civilians were injured in the blast that occurred near the palace which is now used as US military base, the statement said.

    The US and Iraqi forces cordoned off the area preventing people from approaching the scene, it added.

    Earlier on Thursday, 10 Iraqis were killed and 13 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers in a worship house in Mazarie village near Balad in north of Baghdad, the office said in a statement.

    "A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up among Sufi Muslim worshippers, killing 10 of them and wounding 13 others," the statement said.

    The attacker entered the Sunni Muslim worship house at about 9:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) in Mazarie village near Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, the statement added.

    More than 700 people have been killed in Iraq since a new government was announced in late April. Enditem