Suicide car bomber kills himself outside Iraqi army base

Four civilians were wounded by a suicide car bomber who blew himself up Wednesday trying to hit an Iraqi army base in the northern city of Mosul.

During clashes with insurgents that followed in a nearby area in this city, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraqi troops killed 14 militants while a roadside bomb at the same location killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded three others, Iraqi army Brig. Ahmed Zebari said.

The suicide bomber drove up to concrete barriers just before the gates of a base belonging to the Iraqi army's Second Division around 11 a.m. (06:00 GMT), when sniper guards spotted him and opened fire at his car, Zebari said.

There were no casualties inside the base, which is located in a residential area of the city, Zebari said.

Shortly after the attack, Iraqi soldiers fanned out from the base to ambush a group of gunmen and killed the 14 insurgents in an ensuing firefight. The militants' weapons, hidden in their cars, were seized, the brigadier said.

Elsewhere, another suicide bomber blew himself up overnight near a U.S. army checkpoint outside Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding five others, including three women, a police official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said he had no knowledge of any casualties the American troops at the checkpoint may have sustained. U.S. soldiers have sealed off the area, the official added.