Suicide bomber kills five in attack on Iraq police

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed a police commander and four of his bodyguards in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, on Thursday, police said.

The attack on a crowded street targeted Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, head of Tikrit's riot police unit, while he was shopping.

Seven civilians and two other police officers were wounded in the attack in the city, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest levels since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Eighty-eight civilians were killed in violence in November, the first time the monthly bodycount fell below 100 in more than six years.

But suspected Sunni Islamists such as al Qaeda still stage regular attacks, including suicide bombings against government buildings in Baghdad on October 25 and August 19 in which almost 250 people were killed.

Tikrit was the hometown of Sunni dictator Saddam, ousted in the 2003 invasion. It remained volatile until the beginning of this year when security incidents began to subside.

(Reporting by Sabah al-Bazee; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Angus MacSwan)