Woman bomber attacks anti-al-Qaida group

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of an anti-al-Qaida group in Iraq today killing at least 15 people, police said.

It was the country’s second suicide attack involving a woman in less than two weeks.

Ten of those killed in today’s attack in the Diyala province city of Muqdadiyah were members of the anti-al-Qaida group who have joined US and Iraqi forces to rid their area of militants, said the city’s police chief.

The bomb went off on the outskirts of Muqdadiyah, which is about 60 miles north of Baghdad, on a road leading to the town market, al-Tamimi said.

Ten days a go a woman blew herself up near an American patrol near Diyala’s provincial capital Baqouba, wounding seven soldiers and five Iraqis, the US military said.

Overall violence across Iraq has fallen, but it has increased in the north, where al Qaida and other extremists are believed to have fled the massive security crackdown that began in mid-February in Baghdad.

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 up against terrorists.

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