Seven people died in Ramadi when a police outpost has been attacked by suicide bombing.

Nearly 18 have been killed in a series of bombings across Iraq.

The blasts on Monday were primarily targeted at Iraqi security forces, which have been the focal point of insurgent attacks since US troops pulled out of Iraq’s cities at the end of June.

The deadliest attack happened in Ramadi, 115km west of Baghdad, when a lorry packed with explosives was driven into a police outpost, killing at least seven people and wounding 16 more, sources said.

One of the police officials said.”It is like an earthquake struck this place,”

On Monday, Three Iraqi soldiers were killed  in a double roadside bombing in the area near Ghazaliyah in western Baghdad, while fifteen others, including 11 unmilitary people, were wounded in the attack.

Security officials said that , Atleast six people were killed in southern Iraq, while there were two policemen killed and two others wounded in northern city of Mosul during a patrol-bomb hit

Suspects released

A representative for the group said that The US military on Monday freed another 35 members of a group linked to the abduction of five British citizens from Iraq’s finance ministry in 2007.

The prisoner release would mean about 100 members of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous group, have left US custody since the last seven-eight days.

Since July, a total of 250 members have been freed  as talks deepen over the fate of the only British hostage believed to be still alive.

There had been talks in seeking the release of its leader, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali.said Salam al-Maliki, a representative of the group.

Moore, a computer expert working for a US-based consultancy firm, is believed to be still alive,while the bodies of at least three of the hostages have been identified