Baghdad - A suicide car bomber killed sic people and wounded eight when he blew up himself and his vehicle beside an army patrol in Iraq's Diyala province Tuesday, a security source said.

The attack was in al-Saadiya district in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. Four out of the six dead were soldiers, the source said.

Also in al-Saadiya, a bomb ripped through a police patrol killing a policeman and a civilian and injuring eight people including three policemen, a police source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Earlier, unknown gunmen shot and killed an Awakening Councils leader outside a mosque in Baquba, VOI reported. The Awakening Councils are Sunni tribesmen who work with US forces to counter al- Qaeda militants.

In central Baghdad an explosion struck a police patrol in al- Andalus square injuring six including three policemen, a police source told VOI. (dpa)