Suicide bomber kills 19 people

A SUICIDE bomber hit a village in northern Iraq before dawn yesterday, killing at least 19 people and injuring 30 others, officials said.

Officials in the northern city of Mosul said the truck bomb went off in the village of Wardek, about 55 kilometres south-east of the city. The blast took down houses and the toll was expected to rise.

Security forces intercepted a second suicide truck bomber, killing the driver and defusing the bomb before it could be detonated, they said.