A powerful blast destroyed a house in western Baghdad during an overnight police raid, flattening several nearby buildings and killing at least 28 people, including seven policemen, police said on Wednesday.They said the house was raided as a suspected base for foreign militants. As police burst in, a blast tore through the building. Five nearby houses were also destroyed.‘‘The house was turned into a bomb,’’ a police source said.There was some doubt, police sources said, on whether the tip that brought officers to the house was genuine; people inside may have blown themselves up rather than face capture—but it was also possible police were lured into a booby trap.The incident happened late on Tuesday, a day that had already seen about two dozen police and other Iraqi security force personnel killed in other attacks.American troops backed by warplanes battled insurgents in Mosul on Wednesday, killing around 25 guerrillas in clashes after being attacked by suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. A spokesman said a suicide vehicle bomb exploded near a US military outpost, and a second suicide attack targeted a US patrol responding to the first blast. —Reuters
