Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to at least six in a suicide car bomb attack near a police headquarters in central Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into the entrance of the major crimes directorate in central Baghdad and blew himself up," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    "So far, six people were killed and 32 wounded, most of them policemen," the source said.

    The blast sent a plume of smoke to the air and columns of black smoke followed, the source said.

    Earlier in the day, two car bombs detonated separately in northern and central Baghdad, targeting Iraqi police and killing three policemen and a civilian and wounding eight people, four of them policemen, police said.

    Insurgents frequently attack Iraqi security forces in an attempt to cripple the U.S.-backed political process in the war-torn country. Enditem