BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s labor minister escaped assassination Thursday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden SUV into his convoy, killing at least nine people in one of the safest areas of the capital. The blast came on a day when the U.S. relinquished control of a province that includes much of the area south of Baghdad once known as the “triangle of death.” Babil is the 12th of 18 Iraqi provinces to be placed under Iraqi control, paving the way for U.S. forces eventually to go home. Americans will stay in the area to help the Iraqis.—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]