Baghdad - Two civilians were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated close to their vehicle in Iraq's Diyala province late on Monday, police sources said on Tuesday.

The device was detonated as the vehicle was on a main road in al- Morgania district in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad.

In a separate development, the US army in Iraq released 282 detainees during the third week of the holy month of Ramadan bringing the number of released detainees since the beginning of September to 1,449, military sources said.

Currently there are 18,800 Iraqi detainees in US custody. The release came as part of a traditional Ramadan amnesty programme. (dpa)