2 car bombs explode in Basra, Iraq

Two suicide car bombers blew themselves up at checkpoints on a highway near oilfields in the southern Iraqi province of Basra today, killing several people, police sources and an interior ministry spokesman said.

Iraq’s South Oil Company said there was no disruption to operations but oil police were put on maximum alert in response to the attack, officials said.

The victims included two soldiers, a traffic policeman and an unknown number of civilians travelling in a bus.

The first blast took place at the Rumeila checkpoint and the second around one kilometre away at Al-Sadra checkpoint, an interior ministry spokesman said.