A human bomber attacked a top Iraqi National Guard general, missing the target but wounding six people, police said on Tuesday. Major General Mudher al-Mula, was leaving his home at the Adhamiya district of Baghdad in a convoy when the bomb exploded, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. According to a police source, the general escaped what appeared to be an assassination bid, but he bomber was killed. The car, that was packed with explosives, was parked near the general's house in a long line of vehicles waiting overnight for petrol, witnesses said.

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Mula was a general under the toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, although as a member of the Iraqi Shiite Muslim community, he was not typical. The Sunni minority, which used to dominate the country under Saddam's rule, is now trying to oust the U.S.-backed interim government, set to hold an election next month. Little is known about Mula. He was among officers who showed acceptance of the American presence. He was hired directly by them," a senior Iraqi security official said.

National Guards and government officials have been a target of frequent attacks launched by anti-occupation and anti-government rebels during the past months.

Also on Tuesday, four National guards were injured in a roadside bomb attack in the town of Baquba, northeast of the Iraqi capital, an officer in the force said. 18 Iraqi Policemen killed.

Meanwhile, Iraqi rebels attacked a police station in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, killing about 18 police officers, and injuring several others, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Tuesday.

At least 13 policemen died when a group of armed men stormed a station 12 miles south of the city, Arkan Mohammed, a government official in Tikrit said. Also Master Sgt. Robert Powell, of the Tikrit-based U.S. 1st Infantry Division, said that Iraqi rebels attacked four other police checkpoints in Tikrit Tuesday morning, killing five Iraqi officers and injuring three others. The police also said that a group of armed men assassinated a police commander in Baqouba and wounded three other people.

Captain Na'em Fahad was walking in downtown Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, with three of his friends when gunmen opened fire at them, killing the officer, Lt. Saleh Hussein said.

In Samarra, police Maj. Saadoun Ahmed Matroud said that a human bomber detonated his car wounding 10 people. Samarra residents said that shortly after the blast, they were told through mosques loud speakers to stay in their houses because of a curfew, and that U.S. and Iraq troops set up roadblocks. Aljazeera...

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