Female suicide bomber kills 15 in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Friday outside the offices of an anti-al-Qaida group that has joined forces with the U.S., killing at least 15 people, police said. It was Iraq's second suicide attack involving a woman in less than two weeks.

Ten of those killed in the attack in the Diyala province city of Muqdadiyah were members of the anti-al-Qaida group who have partnered with U.S. and Iraqi forces to rid their neighborhood of militants, said Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Tamimi, the city police chief.

Al-Tamimi said at least 20 people were injured.

Another police official said the suicide bomber was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was were not authorized to release details of the attack.

The explosion went off about 9:30 a.m. on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah, which is about 60 miles north of Baghdad, on a road leading to the town market, al-Tamimi said.

On Nov. 27, a woman blew herself up near an American patrol near Diyala's provincial capital Baqouba, wounding seven U.S. troops and five Iraqis, the U.S. military said.

Violence is down nationwide in Iraq, but has increased in the north, where al-Qaida militants and other extremists are believed to have fled a U.S.-led security crackdown that began in mid-February in Baghdad.

As the influx of U.S. 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.

A similar effort saw some success in Iraq's westernmost province, Anbar, where Sunni tribes rose against the organization's brutality and austere version of Islam.

The groups now include some 60,000 Iraqis nationwide, most of them Sunni Arabs, according to the U.S. military, and members have come increasing attack from al-Qaida, which is trying to offset recent security gains.