A triple suicide bombing has killed 26 members of Kurdish security forces north east of Baghdad while a roadside bomb killed the police chief of the western Anbar province.

A woman suicide bomber targeted soccer fans near a cafe north of Baghdad as they were celebrating Iraq’s win in a World Cup qualifying game, police said today.

Masked gunmen stopped two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad, ordered the passengers off, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs, and killed the 21 Shiites “in the name of Islam", a witness said.

Gunmen killed 21 people, including a dozen students, after they dragged them off buses north-east of Baghdad.