BAGHDAD, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A car bomb that exploded Tuesday outside the Iraqi police academy injured 10 people, at least one seriously, a police official said.
Police Det. Basim al-Ani said the 10 were injured when the bomb detonated at 11:15 a.m. local time outside the walled perimeter in front of the police academy. A U.S. soldier said one person was killed, but that report was unconfirmed.
There also was an unconfirmed report that the bomb was inside a sport utility vehicle parked outside the wall of the academy, just east of central Baghdad. The building is next to the main U.S. Army field hospital, which was undamaged.
Al-Ani said Police Chief Hassan Ali was unhurt, though the bomb exploded opposite Ali's office. "The explosion will not affect us. We will still do our jobs," al-Ani told UPI's Pamela Hess.
It was the fourth car bombing in Iraq in the past month. Friday in Najaf, a car bomb killed at least 83 people, including Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, 64, a prominent Shiite cleric. Hundreds of thousands of mourners went to Najaf on Tuesday for Al-Hakim's burial that followed a three-day funeral and ceremonial procession from Baghdad.
A bomb Aug. 19 devastated the United Nations offices in Baghdad, killing 23 people including U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, 55. A blast Aug. 7 killed 11 people at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.
