A police chief of a city in Iraq's western province of Anbar was killed and four of his bodyguards were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion on Monday, a provincial police source said.

Colonel Mohammed Faisal al-Gu'ood, police chief of Hit City, was killed by roadside bomb explosion near his convoy in central the city of Hit, some 160 km northwest of Baghdad, the source from Anbar's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The powerful blast destroyed two vehicles of Gu'ood's convoy, wounding four bodyguards, one of them in critical condition, the source said.

The Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene and blocked the entrances of the city, imposing curfew while dozens of policemen and soldiers deployed in the city looking for the attackers, the source added.

Gu'ood has been in his post since 2008, and is well-known for his role in curbing and chasing Qaida militants in his area.

Insurgent attacks continue in the once volatile Sunni Arab area in west of Baghdad that stretches through Anbar province to Iraq's western borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The province cities and its vast desert area has been relatively calm for more than three years after Sunni tribes and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turned to cooperate with the U.S. troops and the Iraqi security forces against al-Qaida network in Iraq.

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