• Suicide car bombs kill at least 24 across Iraq

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber drove his truck into a police station north of Baghdad on Monday, crumbling the squat concrete building and damaging a nearby school in the deadliest in a series of blasts that killed at least 24 people across Iraq.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks in the capital and two northern areas. But they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which has promised an offensive to coincide with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The blast in Dijlah, a village in the Sunni heartland 60 miles north of the capital, tore through a nearby empty school and several stores. At least 13 people — three officers and 10 civilians — were killed, and 22 were wounded, police said.

• Worsening Darfur violence may spread, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Worsening violence in Darfur risks spreading the conflict further in Sudan and shows the need for advanced equipment a planned UN peacekeeping force does not yet have, a senior UN official said on Monday.

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno said the situation had deteriorated in the western Sudanese region with an attack late last month by armed men on an African Union base and reports of a government attack on another town on Monday.