15 killed in Iraq suicide blast

A suicide bomber killed 15 people today north of Baghdad, police said.

The blast went off at the front gate of a building in Muqdadiyah which houses offices of locals who have joined US and Iraqi forces to rid their neighbourhood of militants, said police Brig. Mohammed al-Tamimi.

About 20 people were wounded, he said. Muqdadiyah lies about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The building housed the offices of a local anti-al-Qaida group, police said.

A security official said the bomber, whose head was found near the blast side, was believed to be a local supporter of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party who left a few years ago and had recently returned.

The official identified the attacker as Suhail Hussein Ali, a man in his 40s.

As the influx of US 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 organisation’s brutality and austere version of Islam.

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