A car bomb explosion has left at least seven policemen killed and ten others wounded in the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, police say.

The incident happened after the driver of the vehicle detonated it at a checkpoint in the western part of the city, an Iraqi police official said.

Besides the officers who were killed, 10 people, including six police officers and four civilians, were wounded in the blast.

Ramadi is situated about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. It is the capital of al-Anbar province.

Al-Anbar province in Iraq was once the most precarious and deadliest part of Iraq for US forces when al-Qaeda in Iraq held sway.

The militants' grip ended when the local population revolted against al-Qaeda last year.

Attacks nonetheless still take place.

MP/DT