Suicide car bomb kills 4 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint killed four people and wounded 10 in Baghdad today, police said.

All the victims were civilians, police said.

Insurgents have defied a government crackdown involving 50,000 Iraqi troops backed by 7,000 U.S.-led soldiers, launched last week in a bid to put pressure on al Qaeda in Baghdad.

In one of bloodiest days in Iraq since a US air strike killed al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7, insurgents killed 43 people in and near Baghdad on Saturday.

A group linked to al Qaeda which had pledged to continue what it described as the holy war against crusader forces until ''doomsday'' claimed responsibility for four car bombs on Saturday against US-trained Iraqi security forces.

US and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni insurgency that erupted after Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003 and shows no sign of easing despite the killing of Zarqawi.

REUTERS CH BD1352