BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber driving a minibus blew himself up in front of the Baghdad office of a popular Arabic news station early Monday, killing six people, and burying a lawmaker alive under the rubble of his collapsed home, police and hospital said. The bomber was apparently waved through two checkpoints leading to the Al-Arabiya television station after security guards checked his identification, said Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi. He said the explosion occurred about 10 minutes after the bomber cleared the second checkpoint. "This has the clear fingerprints of al-Qaeda," al-Moussawi told the channel, adding that an investigation had been launched to determine how the bomber was cleared through two checkpoints. Two police officials and a hospital official said three guards, a driver, a passer-by and a 50-year-old cleaner were killed in the massive blast that hurled around cars and collapsed nearby buildings. The attack also wounded 16 people, including former deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubaie, who lives nearby. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Al-Zubaie, a member of parliament representing the Iraqiya list headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, was rescued from under the rubble of his demolished home said Izzuldin al-Samarraie, an official in the lawmaker's office. The lawmaker is a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's coalition, which is locked in a tough battle with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to see who will be the country's next leader. Allawi could be seen walking out of building after inspecting the damage. American troops riding in Humvees also came by to inspect the damage. He said al-Zubaie's wounds were serious and he was undergoing surgery at Ibn Sina Hospital, in the Green Zone which houses Iraq's government and the US Embassy. In March 2007, a suicide bomber concealed among worshippers blew himself up in al-Zubaie's home, wounding him in the abdomen. Al-Arabiya correspondent Tarek Maher said that the relatively low death toll was because none of the station's administrative staff were in the office at the time of the blast. Police Maj. Gen. Jihad al-Jabiri said the bomber drove up and parked near a trailer where the guards stayed. The trailer's mangled remains could be seen in front of the two-story white building, whose front was partially blackened from the blast. Windows were blown out in Al-Arabiya's offices and much of the building's interior appeared to be in shambles, with doors hanging off their frames. The smoldering shells of at least nine cars could be seen along the street, including one that appeared to have been hurled by the blast on top of another vehicle. A neighbor who lived next door questioned how the bomber could have cleared two checkpoints leading up to the narrow street where the station is headquartered.
