4 Iraqi police dead after suicide blast

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A suicide bomber rammed his truck into a police station in a town south of Baghdad on Friday, killing four police officers and one civilian.

The attack took place in Yousifiya, about 10 miles outside the capital, in an area once dubbed the “triangle of death” because of the level of Sunni Muslim insurgent violence. In the past year, however, violence there has subsided considerably.

U.S. officials have credited the turnabout in large part to the recruitment of former backers of the insurgency, often referred to as Concerned Local Citizens, who now work as volunteers alongside U.S. and Iraqi security forces.

The leader of the largest Shiite Muslim party in Iraq’s Parliament warned Friday against giving too much power to the mainly Sunni volunteer security forces, which are the backbone of a U.S. push to stabilize the country.

Abdelaziz Hakim is a key U.S. ally in Iraq, but his comments about the so-called Awakening councils underscored the sensitivity of the issue as U.S. officials increase pressure on Iraq’s government to give jobs to their members.

Volunteers are paid about $10 a day by the Americans. Most hope eventually to get jobs as Iraqi police officers.

“Weapons should only be in the hands of the government,” Hakim said.