Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Four policemen were killed and three civilians wounded when a suicide car bombing attack targeted a police patrol in a western Baghdad district on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a police patrol near a fuel station in Amriyah district, destroying two police vehicles and killing four policemen aboard," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    The blast also wounded three civilians along with several civilian cars, some of them were lining up outside the fuel station, he added.

    Insurgents frequently attack Iraqi government officials and security forces in an attempt to paralyze political process in the war-torn country.