WORLD BRIEFING / IRAQ

A suicide bomber driving a dynamite-laden truck destroyed a key bridge on a highway used by the departing U.S. military, while separate attacks killed nine Iraqis, most of them security force members, police said.

There were no casualties in the blast that destroyed the bridge outside the city of Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, a local police officer said. The highway is used heavily by the U.S. military to transport equipment out of the country, and is also a major roadway for civilian traffic.

The highway links Iraq to neighboring Syria and Jordan, where many Iraqis fled to escape sectarian violence. Nearby, outside Fallouja, an attack on an Iraqi army convoy killed four soldiers and wounded 14, said a police officer.

In other attacks, two people were killed near Kirkuk and three people died in separate incidents in Mosul.