A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of a police station in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring 13, authorities said. The blast occurred in the Tal Abta area, some 50 miles west of Mosul, police Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Waqaa said.
Those killed included five policemen and one civilian, while the 13 wounded included 10 policemen, according to al-Waqaa.
Elsewhere, 10 members of Iraq's security forces died on Thursday, including five police who were hit by a roadside blast while patrolling south of Baghdad, according to security and medical officials. Lieutenant Hamza al-Waeli of the Hilla Police told AFP that five members of a police task force died and two injured by a roadside booby-trap near al-Dagharah, 120 kilometres south of the capital.
Another five security force members were killed while conducting a joint raid against an alleged Al-Qaeda stronghold just west of Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, security officials said. Two policemen and three Iraqi army soldiers were killed in the raid, including an army major, according to an Iraqi army officer in Tikrit. Another army officer was wounded in the fighting.
A former aide to Iraq's top Shiite cleric died Thursday in a drive-by shooting in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad, security officials said. Kazim Jabir al-Bidairi was shot dead by two gunmen in a car as he drove in the Wafa area of northern Najaf at 11:30 a.m., according to the officials.
