Woman suicide bomber kills eight in Iraq: police
4 days ago
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — Eight people were killed and 20 wounded on
Thursday when a female suicide bomber blew herself up as a Sahwa
(Awakening) patrol passed in Baquba in eastern Iraq, police and medical
sources said.
The attack was in the central New Baquba
neighbourhood, and targeted a Sahwa patrol of Iraqi forces -- former
insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq and paid by the US
military.
One of the dead was local Sahwa leader Naim Al-Dulaimi,
police said, while medical sources said women and children were among
the wounded.
Awakening groups, whose members are each paid 300
dollars a month by the US military, have contributed to a reduction in
violence across Iraq in recent months.
But Diyala province, of
which Baquba is the capital, remains one of the most dangerous regions
in the country. It was in Diyala that the phenomenon of women suicide
bombers first appeared.
Military sources have indicated that the
Iraqi army is preparing to launch a huge offensive involving 30,000 men
in Diyala province, which remains a bastion of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.