8 Iraqi policemen killed defusing rockets

Iraq's military said eight policemen were killed in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday as they tried to defuse a series of rockets that had been prepared for an attack.

The security forces had been responding to rockets fired at two nearby army bases, one for US and one for Iraqi forces, from the capital's Shi'ite Ubaidi district. "The bomb disposal unit were trying to defuse eight rockets in Ubaidi but they lost control and it exploded, killing eight and wounding 42," said Major-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Iraq's military in Baghdad. (AP)