2 Iraqi police die in suicide bombing

A suicide bomber exploded a tanker truck near a police checkpoint outside a market west of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least two police officers and injuring nine others, police said.

The attack occurred about 10 a.m. in a town just outside of the turbulent city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, police said.

Police grew suspicious of the truck as it approached the checkpoint and opened fire when it was still 200 yards away, but the bomber still managed to detonate the explosives, police said. Police said they suspected chlorine gas was used in the attack. The U.S. military said it had no reports of chlorine being used in the bomb.

Also Sunday, police said gunmen in two cars abducted a priest a day earlier as the clergyman left the Chaldean Catholic church in eastern Baghdad.