Schoolchildren killed in Iraq blast

Three schoolchildren were killed and a fourth injured in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad in Iraq’s Diyala province today, police said.

Diyala police spokesman Major Ghalib Al-Karkhi said the bomb went off at about 7.30am as the children were heading to school in an area around 75 miles north of the capital.

He said two of those killed were brothers.

Mr Al-Karkhi said the children were aged between eight and 12.

Violence has plummeted across Iraq since its height in 2006 and 2007 but attacks continue, especially in the country’s north.