Two car bombs that exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad killed at least five policemen.
Two car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry on Thursday, killing at least five policemen in what al-Qaeda's local wing said was a twin suicide attack to try to assassinate the minister.
The group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed to pursue Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, part of its relentless campaign of violence to bring down the US-backed interim government and stall efforts to form a new cabinet.
"This blessed Thursday morning, two lions from the martyrs brigade set out and launched a heroic attack on the collaborationist Interior Ministry, targeting the interior minister," the al-Qaeda Organisation in Iraq said on an Islamist Web site.
"But he escaped. However, if one arrow missed, there is an endless supply in the quiver ... Thank God, for there were many Crusaders with their vehicles, guards and policemen and the two operations hit them and killed and wounded dozens."
A police source said the car bombs exploded just outside the heavily guarded ministry in central Baghdad. At least five police were killed and several others wounded.
Across Iraq, suicide bombers and clashes between insurgents and the US military added 10 to a death toll that climbs steadily every day, and in the north gunmen sabotaged power supplies, underscoring the problems the new ministers face.