A suicide bomber used a stolen police Humvee to pass through a checkpoint in Iraq yesterday and wound 14 people by detonating his explosives.

The attack happened in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, where security forces have been battling militants who took control of parts of the town in December.

The Humvee had been painted with military colours to trick soldiers at the checkpoint into letting it pass.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed a captain and wounded four soldiers in Baquba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad.