Iraqi army soldiers inspect damaged car after suicide car bomber targeted government convoy, in Bab al-Sharji area, central Baghdad, 23 Oct 2008

Iraqi officials say a suicide car bomber has struck a government convoy in the capital, Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 21 others.

Officials say the bomber rammed a car into the convoy of Iraq's minister of labor causing an explosion in central Baghdad Thursday. 

A government spokesman says the minister was not hurt in the attack, but three of his guards were among those killed.

Elsewhere Thursday, the U.S. military handed control of Iraq's once violent central Babil province south of Baghdad to Iraqi security forces.

At a ceremony marking the handover, Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said the move is proof Iraqi security forces in Babil have reached self-sufficiency. 

Babil, a vast province named for the ruins of ancient Babylon, is the 12th of 18 provinces the United States has returned to Iraqi control.

Separately, the U.S. military in Iraq says coalition forces detained two suspected militants Thursday in central Iraq, west of Baghdad. 

The military says one of the men is suspected of providing materials and money to regional al-Qaida leaders for bombings against coalition forces.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.