The aftermath of a deadly blast in the Iraqi capital.<br/> <br />A suicide car bomber killed at least 12 people in an attack at a checkpoint near a police training academy in northeastern Baghdad on Sunday.<br/> <br />Hospital sources said up to 17 people may have been killed in the blast, while estimates of those wounded range from 18 to 23.<br/> <br />But security services in the Baghdad operations centre offered up a far more conservative death toll, reporting that one person was killed and six others were wounded.<br/> <br />This attack breaks a period of relative calm, as tensions appeared to have eased between the country's main Shi'ite and Sunni political blocs.<br/> <br />The row began last December when Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought the arrest of Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi over allegations -- which the latter disputes -- that Hashemi had ordered death squad attacks against Shi'ites.<br/> <br />Travis Brecher, Reuters
