Eight people were killed and 15 others wounded Monday in a suicide car bomb blast in the city of Ramadi in western Iraq.
The suicide car bomber exploded a vehicle in a queue of traffic at a police checkpoint near the provincial capital of Anbar in the morning, reports said. The casualties include four police officers.
The predominantly Sunni Arab city was a stronghold of al-Qaeda, but it returned to relative calm since local Sunni tribal leaders supported the U.S.-led coalition forces in 2006.
Despite a fall in violence in Iraq since last year, a number of recent blasts have raised fears that sustained violence could return to the country, especially after the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraqi cities and major towns in June.
Pentagon also plans to end combat operations across Iraq by September next year, leaving the challenging task of maintaining the country's security to Iraqi forces.
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