A female suicide bomber attacked the offices of an anti-al-Qaida group that has joined forces with the US, killing 15 people on Friday, Iraqi police said.
It was the second suicide attack involving a woman in less than two weeks in one of Iraq's most violent provinces and one of many in recent months that have targeted the US-backed groups, which are credited with helping stem Iraq's violence along with the influx of American troops.
Ten of those killed in the attack in the Diyala province city of Muqdadiyah were members of the local anti-al-Qaida group who have partnered with US and Iraqi forces to rid their neighborhood of militants, said Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Tamimi, the city police chief.
Al-Tamimi said 15 people were killed and at least 20 people were injured.
About half the wounded were taken to a nearby base for treatment, said Maj. Peggy Kageilery, a US military spokeswoman for northern Iraq.
Another police official said the suicide bomber was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and identified her as a local woman named Suhaila Hussein Ali. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the attack.
The explosion occurred about 9:30 am on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah, a majority Sunni city about 90 km north of Baghdad, on a road leading to the town market, al-Tamimi said.
On November 27, a woman blew herself up near an American patrol near Diyala's provincial capital Baqouba, wounding seven US troops and five Iraqis, the US military said.
In April in Muqdadiyah, a woman with explosives hidden beneath her black abaya detonated them in a crowd of police recruits, killing at least 16 men waiting to learn if they had been hired.
Since then, violence has declined nationwide in Iraq, but is still frequent in the north, where al-Qaida militants and other extremists are believed to have fled a US-led security crackdown that began in mid-February in Baghdad.
As the influx of US troops gained momentum earlier this year, American officials have courted both Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders around the country, hoping they will help lead local drives against al-Qaida and other militants.
With violence largely declining, the United States has pushed Iraq's government to make strides in reconciling Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds - a step seen as key to keeping the peace in the country.
A stumbling block in recent days has been a dispute over raids on the home and offices of Adnan al-Dulaimi, one of Iraq's most powerful Sunni politicians that led to the arrest of his security detail, after a guard was found with the keys to an explosives-rigged car.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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