Ramadi, Iraq - Three people were killed in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Thursday in an explosion that quickly followed a bomb targeting a senior police officer's car, security and health officials said.

A magnetic bomb attached to Lieutenant Colonel Husain Ali's car left him only slightly wounded, a police official said, but explosives concealed in a petrol can then engulfed civilians who had rushed to his aid.

Three people were killed and eight hurt in the second explosion, said health officials in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, Iraq's largest province with a predominantly Sunni population. - Sapa-AFP