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Suicide bomber kills 23 near Baghdad
AFP - 1 hour 4 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - - A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people and wounded 72 others on Friday at a tribal meeting near the Iraqi capital, officials said, one day after the United States handed back part of the security brief to Iraq.
The bomber detonated his explosives vest at a lunch meeting of Sunni Arab sheikhs in Al-Yusufiyah, a town south of Baghdad, after entering through a back door, Baghdad security plan spokesman General Qassem Atta told AFP.
"Twenty-three people were killed and at least 72 injured," Atta said, adding that the members of the Quaraghuli tribe had gathered to discuss candidates in the upcoming provincial elections.
"The suicide bomber was a member of the tribe who was close to the leading local sheikh Mohammed Abdulla," he said.
A source in the interior ministry put the death toll at 30 and said 110 were wounded. The US military revised their initial casualty report to 23 killed and 32 wounded.
Toll discrepancies following bombings are common in Iraq.
The town of Al-Yusufiyah is in the Sunni-dominated region south of Baghdad that used to be known as the "triangle of death" because of brutal and persistent violence.
The attack at about 2pm (1100 GMT) came the day after the United States handed over security control of the Green Zone in Baghdad and other military facilities to Iraq as a UN mandate for foreign troops expired.
It was the deadliest attack in Iraq since December 11 when at least 55 people were killed 95 wounded in a suicide bombing at a restaurant outside the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Nevertheless attacks of all types have been sharply down across Iraq in recent months although insurgents are still able to strike throughout the country, according to US commanders.
With provincial elections scheduled for January 31, an increase in violence is highly likely, they said.
On Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot dead Mowaffaq al-Hamdani, a candidate in the elections. One policeman was killed and another wounded when they chased the assailants.
US forces have recruited Iraq's powerful tribes to fight against Al-Qaeda, particularly in Sunni Arab areas, making them a target for jihadists.
According to British-based NGO Iraq Body Count, the Sahwa or Awakening groups of Sunni fighters who turned against their former Qaeda allies in 2006, have paid a heavy price for their newfound loyalty to the US military.
In a report released last month, the organisation said 549 Sahwa fighters died between October 2007 and November 2008, although that was lower than the 1,287 deaths in the Iraqi police ranks during the same period.
Suicide bombings in particular are a hallmark of insurgents linked to the Al-Qaeda network.
Last month a total of 316 Iraqis were killed in political violence across the country, the lowest monthly death toll in nearly three years, according to official figures released on Thursday.
In all, 6,772 Iraqis were killed in Iraq last year, down from 17,430 in 2007.
The situation appears to have stabilised across the country but violence, mainly through bomb attacks and assassinations, remains an almost daily occurrence.
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