A suicide bomber killed four people today after ramming a vehicle into a police building in southern Iraq.
Police said the bomber crashed through the gate during the morning rush hour and made it a few yards into the police compound before blowing up the car in the city of Basra.
Three policemen and one civilian were killed and 24 people were injured.
A health official confirmed the causality figures.
Basra, 500km south-east of Baghdad, is becoming the hub for Iraq's burgeoning oil industry, and suicide bombings like today's are rare.
AP