A SUICIDE CAR bomber rammed his explosive-packed vehicle into a barrier outside a police building in a central Iraq city Thursday morning, killing 20 police officers and wounding dozens more, a local councilman said.

The blast — in the mostly Shiite city of Hillah — was the second significant attack in Iraq since the death of Osama bin Laden on Monday at the hands of a US commando team in Pakistan. Iraqis have been on edge, waiting for al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq to strike back as a way to demonstrate it is still dangerous.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but it resembled many past attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq targeted at security forces.

“The attack bears the hallmark of al-Qaida which is renewing its efforts to destabilize the country,” said Hamid al-Milli, a member of the region’s provincial council.

Iraqi officials have vowed to increase security in the aftermath of bin Laden’s killing. Already, security is vastly improved since the days when bin Laden’s associates terrorized the country, but Thursday’s bombing seemed to underscore how difficult it is to wipe out all traces of the insurgency.

Iraq also faces the withdrawal of the remaining American forces — about 46,000 troops — from Iraq by the end of this year, a prospect that many Iraqis fear will leave their country more vulnerable to violence.

A police official said the bomber hit when officers were assembling in a square in front of the police building for a shift change in Hillah, about 95 kilometers south of the capital Baghdad.

Al-Milli said 20 policemen were killed and 40 more wounded in the bombing. He said the car was believed to have been loaded with about 150 kilograms of explosives. The attacker sped toward the police building and the guards did not have a chance to shoot at him, he said.

A witness at the scene said the blast knocked down the concrete ceiling covering a parking lot where many police cars were parked.

The fact that the bomber was able to wipe out so many policemen in one blast immediately raised questions about security at the building.

“The incident is definitely a security breach and all the security services in the province, especially the police command, are held responsible for that,” said Mansour al-Mani’i, a member of the Hillah council.

- AP