A car bomb went off Saturday outside a police station in Iraq's third largest city, killing at least nine people and injuring 45, witnesses and hospital sources said. Staff at the Republican Hospital in Mosul said nine people including civilians and policemen were killed and 45 others were injured. According The AP, Saturday was a pay day and the police station was crowded with staff at the time of the midmorning bombing, said police Lt. Mohammed Fadil. A U.S. military spokesman said: "We are aware of a report of an IED (improvised explosive device) or a car bomb that exploded near the Mosul police station this morning." Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network said no American soldiers were in the vicinity at the time of the blast. Some witnesses said it appeared that a car drove through a security barricade in front of the police station before exploding outside the building. One policeman testified the explosion was so huge that there were casualties not only on the street but also inside the building. **Blast Kills Three US Troops near Kirkuk*** A homemade bomb planted on a road went off Saturday as a U.S. military convoy passed by, killing three troops, the U.S. military said. A military spokesman said an improvised bomb exploded some 40 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk, near a convoy of the 4th Infantry Division, The AP reported. **US Picked Iraqi Governing Council Limits Al Jazeera Coverage*** Iraq's Governing Council on Saturday banned Arabic television station Al Jazeera from covering Council events for a month over remarks made during a phone-in show broadcast last week which were deemed insulting. Council spokeswoman Marouj Haider said the channel had shown "disrespect to Iraq and its people and harmed prominent religious and national figures." The U.S.-appointed Council has in the past temporarily limited operations of Qatar-based Al Jazeera and its competitor Dubai-based Al Arabiya, accusing them of inciting violence. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi soldier helps an Iraqi policeman who survived a car bomb explosion in Mosul, Iraq Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Karam Hussein)