Car bomb kills eight in Iraq

---

RAMADI, Sept 7 (AFP): Eight people were killed and 15 wounded Monday in a suicide car bomb attack on a security checkpoint in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, a former Al-Qaeda stronghold, police said.
The predominantly Sunni Arab city, capital of Anbar province, was a key insurgent base in the aftermath of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime by US-led forces in 2003, but violence has dropped dramatically since.
Monday's attack happened at around 8:30 am (0530 GMT) in Al-Jazeera, a northern neighbourhood of Ramadi, a police official told the news agency.
"There were four security force members and four civilians among the victims," he said, adding that the 15 wounded comprised 13 civilians and two police.
Ramadi, a city of around 540,000 people, is situated 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of Baghdad.
Anbar, Iraq's biggest province, became the theatre of a brutal war focused on the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, while several towns along the Euphrates river valley became Al-Qaeda strongholds and later safe havens for insurgents.
But since 2006 local Sunni tribes there have sided with the US military and unrest has dwindled across Anbar as rebel fighters have been ejected from the region.