Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAQUBA, Iraq, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Two Iraqi policemen were killed and eight others injured in a massive blast in an explosives-rigged house in the volatile province of Diyala in northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said on Sunday.

    The house blast occurred late on Saturday when an Iraqi security force raided an under construction house in the town of Saadiyah, some 120 km northeast of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The troops were caught in the snare as they entered the house after they received a phone call from unidentified source that a body was found by neighboring residents, he said.

    Diyala province, which stretches from eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has been the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq network and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.