A car bomb exploded earlier Saturday, in the Iraqi city of Samarra, north of Baghdad. At least two Iraqis and two US soldiers were reported killed and more than 40 other people injured, including seven American soldiers who were slightly injured by flying glass.
The explosion occurred mid-morning local time outside the town council building and near an American military police patrol that was turning into the central police station. According to U.S. military officials, the injured Americans were part of a civil affairs unit working inside the city council building at the time. Samarra is about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad and is in a particularly volatile region, where most of the deadly attacks against coalition forces and Iraqis cooperating with them have occurred. Iraqi police stations have been frequent targets of attacks. The bombing came hours after United Nations officials arrived in Iraq on a mission to determine if it's safe for international staff to return to the country. The United Nations pulled its international staff out of Iraq after its headquarters in Baghdad was bombed last August.