At least 10 people were killed and 24 others injured in a spate of mortar attacks on a checkpoint manned by anti-Qaida fighters in a residential area in Diyala province, a provincial police source said on Monday.
"Three mortar rounds overnight landed on the town of al-Adhaim apparently targeted a checkpoint of the local Awakening Council group fighters," the source with Diyala police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Some of the victims were civilians hit at homes and the others the council members, the source said.
The town, some 60 km north of the capital city of Baquba, has long been a stronghold for Sunni extremists group of Qaida.
Baquba itself was the scene of a suicide bombing on Sunday when a woman wearing an explosive vest blew herself up near a police patrol outside the building of Diyala provincial government and a nearby courthouse, killing at least 15 people and wounding 30 others.
Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has long been stronghold for Qaida in Iraq network.
The attacks in Diyala province came as the U.S. and Iraqi security forces have been conducting major offensives against extremist Sunni and Shiite militiamen across the war-torn country.
Source:Xinhua
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