WORLD BRIEFING / IRAQ

A fuel tanker exploded near a checkpoint outside Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi officials said, along a route once known as the world’s deadliest road because of frequent attacks there during the height of the insurgency.

There were conflicting reports about the cause of the explosion, which wounded at least five guards at the checkpoint. No fatalities were reported.

A police official said a bomb attached to the tanker detonated at the checkpoint on the four-lane road leading to the airport. But airport spokesman Kareem Timini said the explosion was an accident that was caused when the driver started a fire to cook breakfast on the side of the road.

The explosion caused four other tankers to catch fire, Timini and the police official said.