Suicide car bomb kills 5 in western Iraq: police

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a police checkpoint in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Monday, killing five policemen and wounding seven, police said.

The city is the capital of Anbar province, an area that was once the most dangerous part of Iraq but has become among the safest since the local population turned against al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants in late 2006 and 2007.

Iraq has become far less violent over the past year overall, but U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities say militants still retain the ability to carry out large scale bombings, frequently targeting police and U.S.-backed neighborhood patrols.

A suicide bomber struck a neighborhood patrol checkpoint in a Sunni Arab area of north Baghdad on Sunday, killing 15 people.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)