Female suicide bomber kills 15 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber blew herself up among policemen outside a restaurant north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding 35, Iraqi police said.

The attack took place in Baquba, capital of multi-ethnic Diyala province, where Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants have sought to sow tension despite a succession of military offensives that have put the group on the back foot.

Police said the woman walked over to a group of policemen outside a restaurant then detonated explosives under her clothing. Several cars were set on fire.

"When she approached the police patrol, a powerful blast ripped through the area," said Adnan Fayadh, a photocopy shop owner who was nearby.

Police and the U.S. military said 15 people were killed in the attack, which was also near a number of government buildings in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. The U.S. military said the dead included seven policemen.

At a hospital morgue, white sheets covered most of the dead. A man wailed over a body lying on a stretcher.

The U.S. military said 21 female suicide bombers had carried out attacks this year. Most have been in Diyala and Baghdad.

Security officials have blamed those bombings on al Qaeda, which they say has sought to recruit women because they can sometimes escape strict security checks on men.

Violence in Iraq has dropped to a four-year low, but Sunday's bombing was the second big attack in the past week.

U.S. forces have blamed a rogue Shi'ite militia group for a truck bomb that killed 63 people in Baghdad last Tuesday. That was the deadliest attack in Baghdad in more than three months.

U.S. officials accuse al Qaeda insurgents of carrying out scores of large-scale bombings, killing thousands of people in Iraq in the past few years.

A sustained military campaign against al Qaeda has pushed the group out of its traditional strongholds in Anbar province in the west and parts of Baghdad in the past year.

One region where al Qaeda forces regrouped was in the northern city of Mosul, described by the U.S. military as al Qaeda's last major urban stronghold.

Iraqi security officials say al Qaeda's network has been broken in Mosul following an offensive there.

OPERATIONS IN SOUTH

The Mosul operation was among several that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered in the past four months as he tries to impose order on areas once under the control of Shi'ite militias or Sunni Arab al Qaeda insurgents.

The most recent operation was launched on Thursday in the southern city of Amara, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Iraqi forces took control of Amara without a shot being fired after Sadr ordered his supporters not to resist.

Major-General Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for the Iraqi Defence Ministry, said on Sunday a series of supporting operations had been launched in other southern provinces to catch militants who had escaped from Amara.

The presence of thousands of Iraqi soldiers in Amara, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, has made residents feel more secure.

"The situation is a lot different now. The militias and the Mehdi Army had controlled the city," said Ahmed Hattam, 34, the owner of an electronic appliance shop.

Louis Denkha, 32, a Christian who owns a clothes shop, said: "Now we see more women costumers ... Before we used to hide the women's lingerie, but now I display it inside my shop."

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Aseel Kami, Aws Qusay and Tim Cocks in Baghdad and Aref Mohammed in Amara, Editing by Ralph Boulton)