Many embassy workers were hurt in the blast, which destroyed three vehicles in the envoy’s convoy, the newspaper reported.

Al Shabab newspaper reported Thursday that police sources announced an IED put in a local bus exploded Thursday morning northeast of Baghdad, killing and wounding civilians.

The report didn't mention the number of casualties and injuries as police blocked and surrounded the area, fearing more explosions.

In another report, the paper said a spokesman for the Sunni-dominated Accord Front announced U.S. forced arrested a member of the party in Nineveh. The spokesman said Naif Jassim, an Iraqi lawmaker who represents the party, was at a funeral that was raided by U.S. troops who arrested many people, including Jassim.

The spokesman denied Jassim was taking part in an al-Qaida meeting and called for his immediate release.

The Kurdish Al Ahali newspaper said the al-Qaida-backed Iraqi Islamic State announced the killing of Abu Usama al-Tunisi, a prominent member, and promised to take revenge upon those who killed him.

U.S. military officials said Multi-National Forces killed al-Tunisi, a Tunisian fighter, in an airstrike south of Baghdad recently.

The group published a statement on its Web site announcing the "martyrdom" of al-Tunisi and described him as "the first who migrated to the Mesopotamia to fight" and the best fighter in the group.

Their statement also said, according to the paper, that "this war between the crusaders and us is continuing. They kill our fighters; we will continue killing them and their supporters."

Separately, the newspaper reported the security situation in Nineveh province was deteriorating because al-Qaida fighters were escaping to the area from Baghdad, Diyala and Anbar provinces.

Azzaman newspaper reported that U.S. forces revealed the names of 500 European and Arab foreign fighters in Iraq.

In details, the paper said the U.S. Army announced that during a raid in Mosul, they discovered a list of 500 names of fighters recruited from Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.

U.S. army officials also said they "found contracts signed by foreign fighters to carry out suicide attacks."