A suicide attacker rammed a truck packed with explosives into an army barracks in Iraq's Diyala province Monday, killing at least nine troops and wounding 14 others, a security official said.
The attack took place at around 6:00 am (0300 GMT) at an army base at Kanaan, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the official said.
"At least nine soldiers died and 14 others were wounded," he said, adding that the building was totally destroyed and that it was feared more victims could be buried under the rubble.
The bomber drove the truck straight through the checkpoint at the entrance to the base and rammed the main building housing the sleeping quarters of the troops.
An AFP correspondent who arrived on the scene saw a host of ambulances around the barracks and excavators clearing away the rubble.
A number of houses in the vicinity were damaged by the blast and the windscreens of cars were blown in while troops and police were deployed in the area.
Kanaan is situated some 10 kilometres east of Baquba, the chief town of Diyala province, a former Al-Qaeda stronghold which remains one of the most violent in Iraq because of strong ethnic and religious differences.
In other incidents Monday, at least eight people were injured when three improvised bombs exploded in Baghdad, an interior minister official said.
One bomb aimed at a police patrol in the eastern district of al-Amin wounded three policemen and two civilians.
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