Suicide car bomber kills 20 in Ramadi

A suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint Friday in western Ramadi, killing at least 20 people - two of them policemen - and wounding as many as 20, police in the Anbar provincial capital.

Anbar province has been a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency but many tribes in the region recently switched allegiance, with large numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid to expel al-Qaida in Iraq fighters.

Suicide bombings are an al-Qaida trademark.

Police opened fire as the suicide car bomber sped toward a checkpoint 5 kilometers (3 miles) west of Ramadi, according to police Col. Tariq al-Dulaimi.

Nearby buildings were heavily damaged and police were searching the rubble for more victims of the 11:15 a.m. attack.