A suicide car bomb exploded outside a residential complex in northern Iraq Tuesday, killing 22 people and wounding 30, AP quoted police and local hospital officials as saying. The bomber, who was driving a pickup truck, detonated his explosives when Iraqi police and members of a volunteer force prevented him from entering the gate of the compound belonging to the state-run North Oil Company in Beiji, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said. He said some of the residential buildings were damaged in the blast. Most of those killed were civilians, and at least three were children, the police officer said. The dead also included guards of the oil company and members of the volunteer force, he said. An official at the main hospital in Beiji gave the same casualty figures. Authorities imposed a curfew on the city until further notice.
