In Iraq, a car bomb exploded outside a police academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony Wednesday, killing at least 20 people. Hours earlier, another car bomb killed two Iraqis in the nation’s capital

The explosion outside a gate of the police academy in Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, was the latest in a string of attacks against Iraqi security forces. According to Iraqi Interior Ministry figures released Wednesday, the confirmed number of Iraqi policemen killed in the last four months of 2004 was 1,300 before the latest blast. It remains unclear if all the 20 killed in Hilla were police. Earlier Wednesday, an explosives-filled car following a convoy of U.S. and Iraqi troops detonated in western Baghdad killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding10. The attack also came as a funeral procession was held nearby for slain Baghdad governor Ali al-Haidari, who was known for cooperating closely with U.S. troops. Al-Haidari was killed on Tuesday. Also, four Iraqi civilians were killed and two others were injured when U.S. soldiers opened fire on them in central Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. A U.S. soldier belonging to Task Force Olympia was killed and two were wounded after their patrol was attacked with small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire Tuesday afternoon in Tal Afar in northern Iraq. Five other U.S. servicemen died in three separate attacks on Tuesday, making it the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Iraq since the suicide bombing at a mess tent in Mosul on Dec. 21, an attack that killed 22 people including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.