Baghdad - A rescue team has removed 10 dead bodies from the scene of an explosion after a fuel tanker crashed into the Tikrit police command Sunday destroying the two-storey building, a police source in Tikrit said. Those killed include five police officers and 35 policemen were wounded, the source added, as rescue operations were still underway.
The source said that the explosion occurred as more than 40 employees were present in the building - all police officers. The building was completely destroyed, added the source who said that they have been receiving phone calls from victims still caught under the rubble.
The calls were apparently made through cell phones that the victims had in hand in time of the explosion.
Security forces, meanwhile, sealed off the roads leading to the site, as ambulances and fire trucks were heard rushing to the scene.
Tikrit, 170 kilometres north of Baghdad, is the hometown of the executed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a stronghold of the dictator's Baath party.
Separately, US-led coalition forces said Sunday that they captured six suspected terrorists during morning raids targeting members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq network in Fallujah, 70 kilometres west of Baghdad and Mosul, 400 kilometres north.
