- Title: IRAQ: Female suicide bomber kills 10 in Iraq's Baquba
- Date: 2nd January 2008
- Summary: AMBULANCE OUTSIDE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN BAQUBA HOSPITAL MEN OUTSIDE EMERGENCY VARIOUS OF WOUNDED WOMAN LYING ON STRETCHER RELATIVE BESIDE WOUNDED WOMAN WOUNDED WOMAN SHOWING HER WOUNDED HAND IRAQI SOLDIERS OUTSIDE EMERGENCY PEOPLE AND SOLDIERS OUTSIDE HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 17th January 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA68COJJ3PAFG4DIY8FDKMNH9WF
- Story Text: Suicide attack kills 10 in Iraq, U.S. military says it's a sign al Qaeda militants still capable of "spectacular" attacks killing a large number of civilians.
A female suicide bomber killed 10 people in Iraq on Wednesday (January 2), the latest in a string of suicide bombings that has seen a major strike nearly every day of the past week despite an overall decline in violence.
The woman blew herself up with an explosive vest at a checkpoint of neighbourhood patrol volunteers in Baquba, capital of the restive Diyala province. Twenty-eight people were wounded including some women, police said.
Strikes by female suicide bombers are comparatively rare but there have been several in recent weeks in Diyala, including one which killed 16 people on Dec. 7 and another which wounded seven people at a police station in Baquba on New Year's Eve.
The attack came the day after a bomber detonated his explosive vest in a tent crowded with mourners at a Baghdad funeral. Police raised the death toll from that strike to 34, making it the worst in the capital in six months.
U.S. forces said the strikes showed that al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants remained able to carry out so-called "spectacular" attacks killing large numbers of people despite improvements in security that saw overall levels of violence drop.
"We have said all along and we fully understand that al-Qaeda seeks to continue to still have the capability, and they do have the capability to conduct these horrific attacks, barbaric attacks that target innocent civilians in their effort to try to incite sectarian tensions,"
spokesman Major-General Kevin Bergner said.
Among those killed in Wednesday's strike was Abdul-Rafaa al-Nidawi, whom police described as the coordinator between U.S. forces and volunteer patrols in the city. Other volunteers were also among the dead.
The mainly Sunni Arab neighbourhood patrols, paid by U.S. forces to oppose Sunni al Qaeda militants, have frequently been targeted by suicide bombers in recent months.
The patrols were initially set up by tribes that turned against the Sunni Islamist group and are now springing up throughout Sunni Arab areas with U.S. funding and support.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who is not believed to have direct control over the Iraqi militants that use his organisation's name, threatened attacks against the patrol members in an audio tape released last week.
"The fact that al Qaeda is targeting them is the clearest indication that they are concerned about them," Bergner said.
The past week saw major bombings against civilians or neighbourhood patrol volunteers nearly every day. On New Year's Eve a suicide car bomb killed 11 people including five children in a town north of Baghdad. On Christmas day two separate strikes on patrol volunteers killed at least 33 people. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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