Two suicide car bombs outside Iraq's Interior Ministry and another near a police station in Baquba killed six people yesterday, as Shiite political parties piled pressure on the Kurds to join them in a governing coalition. The US military announced the death in action of three more of its soldiers, pushing the total number killed since the war that ousted Saddam Hussein close to the 1,500 mark.The Baghdad bombs went off at morning rush hour, with the first vehicle serving as a decoy for the second and more powerful blast outside the ministry, a strategic post in Iraq's battle against the insurgency. "A Kia vehicle tried to enter the checkpoint and at this moment blew up. It was not that effective but made a large amount of smoke so we couldn't see anything," said policeman Mohammed Jaafar. "Two minutes later, a Jeep Cherokee reached the checkpoint and opened fire with an MG machinegun and police fired back but it was too late because he reached the checkpoint and blew up." Five policemen were killed and five more wounded, an Interior Ministry official said.
In Baquba, north of the capital, one person was killed and 18 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack near a police station, a police officer said. The government yesterday said it had extended Iraq's state of emergency laws for another 30 days from Feb. 28, giving the government the right to impose curfews and restrict movement around the country.