Two suicide bombing attacks occurred late Saturday in Iraq's Hillah, killing 6 policemen and wounding 26 others, said reports reaching here from the southern Shiite city.

The first blast occurred when a suicide bomber detonated a belt of explosives at a police checkpoint in the city center, some 95 kilometers south of Baghdad, killing 6 policemen, a police officer was quoted as saying.

About 10 minutes later, a second suicide attacker blew himself up in a crowd of police and civilians who had rushed to the scene of the first blast, injuring 26 people.

Both the suicide bombers died, added the police officer.

Earlier, a suicide car bomb struck a police checkpoint south of Baghdad Saturday, killing five Iraqis and wounding 12 others, police said.

The attack took place at the town of Mahmudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad, when a suicide car bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a police checkpoint.

Another attack occurred in the morning in western Baghdad when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a recruitment center of the Iraqi police commandos, killing up to 20 people and wounding dozens of others.

Insurgents often use suicide bomb attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in an attempt to cripple the new Iraqi government formed two months ago.

Source: Xinhua