A Spanish diplomat, a US soldier and at least 10 Iraqis died yesterday in a trio of attacks, showing how weak security still is half a year since US troops occupied Baghdad.

US efforts to rebuild Iraq faced diplomatic obstacles too, with doubts raised over the prospect of any UN resolution to map out the country's political future, and over the point of holding a planned donors' conference before that is done.

In Baghdad's bloodiest attack for weeks, police said two suicide bombers crashed an old American car through a police station's gates, killing two policemen and six civilians and wounding dozens in the blast.

"I saw an Oldsmobile car speeding towards the police station. It slammed into another car ... there was a huge explosion," said wounded policeman Achmed Jassim.

"It was definitely a suicide bomb," another officer said. "We found the head of (one) attacker. It had been blown off of his body. "

Occupying forces and Iraqis who work for them -- especially the fledgling police force -- have been constant targets for guerrillas who Washington says are loyalists of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who is still on the run.

In another grenade attack on Iraqi police late on Wednesday, guerrillas killed one policeman and wounded two in the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, the US army said.

(China Daily October 10, 2003)