Iraqi checkpoint 'hit by bomber'

A suicide bomber has killed at least nine people at a police checkpoint in western Iraq, local officials say.

The attack reportedly happened in the town of Hit in Anbar province, 170km (105 miles) west of Baghdad.

Correspondents say Anbar province was once a former insurgent stronghold but became one of the success stories of 2007 as violence fell dramatically.

The local Awakening Council - a Sunni group - joined forces with the US military to fight al-Qaeda militants.

Hit's administrator, Hikmat Jubeir, told the Associated Press news agency that 10 people had been killed in the blast on Saturday - four civilians and six policemen, including the town's police chief Col Khalil Ibrahim.

He said the attacker detonated an explosives belt after approaching the checkpoint. Twelve other people were wounded, he added.