Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 11 from a suicide truck bomb attack targeting a police station in southern Baghdad on Saturday, which also injured 23 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

    "The latest police report said 11 people were killed, including four policemen, and 23 others wounded, including 19 policemen," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. A police colonel was among those wounded, the source said. Initial report said two policemen were killed and seven others wounded in the blast.

    "A suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with explosives hidden under bricks into a police station in Doura district at around 11a.m. (0800 GMT) and blew it up," the source said.

    The truck bomb struck the concrete barricades around the building which was heavily damaged by the powerful explosion, the source said.

    The powerful explosion was heard across the Iraqi capital while a large plume of smoke rose into the air.

    Dozens of gunmen opened fire at the station after the blast, prompting the Iraqi security forces that rushed to the scene to call in U.S. aircraft support, the source said, adding, "the situation is under control."

    Three hours earlier, two mortar rounds landed on the Abu Dsheir neighborhood in southern Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding four others, the police said.

    Violence persists in Baghdad despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers across the capital in a major security crackdown aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the war-torn country.