Suicide car bomber leaves 23 dead in Iraq market blast

A car bomb exploded today near an Iraqi checkpoint in a market north of Baghdad, killing at least 23 civilians and wounding 25, the US military said.

The violence was among a series of attacks in northern Iraq.

The military said US and Iraqi forces had secured the area and the wounded had been evacuated to hospitals.

Iraqi police said that a suicide car bomber targeted US-allied fighters and Iraqi security forces at a checkpoint in Yathrib, near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Police and members of an anti-al Qaida group opened fire as the attacker sped towards a joint checkpoint, but he managed to detonate his explosives near some shops about 20 yards away, according to police at the Salahuddin provincial coordination centre.

Police said eight civilians were killed and 20 wounded. The differing casualty figures and details could not immediately be reconciled.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police said four civilians were killed today when a oil tanker exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Mosul.

In an attempt to avert a suicide attack, Iraqi soldiers opened fire on the tanker about 30 yards from their post, an officer said.

The tanker exploded, killing four civilians and damaging six cars nearby, he said.

The blast also damaged a petrol station near the checkpoint on the outskirts of Mosul, which lies 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The explosions came hours after suspected al Qaida-linked insurgents stormed two villages in northwestern Iraq but were repelled by US-allied fighters and Iraqi security forces in clashes that left at least 22 people dead, according to Sheik Fawaz al-Jarba, a Sunni MP and the head of the anti-al Qaida group in Mosul.

The attack began about 5am when about 25 cars of heavily armed gunmen, drove into the villages of Khams Tlol and al-Madina, about 50 miles west of Mosul, said Sheik Fawaz al-Jarb.

He said villagers fought back against the militants, who were wielding rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and assault rifles, prompting clashes that lasted about five hours.