Blast near Iraqi police station

A vehicle was destroyed in the explosion

At least one person has been killed and another injured in a blast outside a police station in a suburb of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Witnesses said a headless body was found at the scene after the blast in the western suburb of Maysaloun on Sunday.

The police station is sometimes visited by US soldiers.

Coalition troops in Iraq have been targeted in a spate of attacks blamed on forces loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein since the war was declared over in May.

However, al-Arabiya television aired a taped message on Sunday which claimed that the attacks had been co-ordinated by the al-Qaeda network and not the former regime.

The identity of the person on the tape, who claimed to be from the Islamic Armed Group of al-Qaeda, Falluja branch, was not immediately clear.

'Arrest'

The body was found next to the wreckage of a car, which had been thrown on its side with its roof ripped off.

An Iraqi policeman quoted by the Associated Press said he was inside the police station with colleagues when the blast happened.

"We went to the scene and found a headless body lying near the car which was blown apart. The people around us said there was someone else trying to escape. We found him and arrested him. He is in custody now," said policeman Adel Shakir.

Earlier this month, seven Iraqi trainee police officers were killed in a bombing at their station in Ramadi.