A roadside bomb went off Wednesday near the convoy of the police chief of the northern city of Mosul, a day after the Iraqi security forces launched a major crackdown on insurgency in the city.

"A roadside bomb detonated in the morning near the convoy of Maj. Gen. Wathiq al-Hamdani, chief police of the city, who survived the attack unhurt," a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blast damaged several vehicles of the convoy, wounding four of Hamdani's bodyguards, the source said.

"I was on tour in the city to follow up the ongoing security plan when the attack took place in the Mithaq district in south west of Mosul," Major General Wathiq al-Hamadai told Xinhua by telephone.

In separate incident, another roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in Mosul's central neighborhood of Qadisiyah, damaging a police vehicle and wounding two policemen aboard, the anonymous police source added.

The governor of Mosul, Duraiyd Kashmoulah said that early on Tuesday the Iraqi security forces kicked off a security plan dubbed Operation Imposing Law in the city as a continuation of the security plan launched on Feb. 14 in Baghdad.

"The plan will include setting up checkpoints in Mosul, raiding gunmen's hideouts and gaining security for the city's hot spots," Kashmoulah told Xinhua.

Mosul, the capital city of the predominantly Sunni province of Nineveh, is some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital.

Source: Xinhua