Woman kills 5 in Iraq suicide blast

A woman with explosives hidden under her billowing black gown attacked a police convoy today, killing five people and injuring 11 northeast of Baghdad, police said.

It was the ninth suicide attack carried out by a woman so far this year, a troubling reminder of the dangers faced by Iraqis despite recent security gains five years after U.S.-led forces invaded the country.

The attack happened in a busy commercial district of Balad Ruz, a religiously mixed city in Diyala province. The woman stepped into the street as a convoy passed, ferrying a police captain to work, according to the provincial operations center. Two policemen were among those killed and four were injured, police said.

The number of attacks dropped late last year after the U.S. military deployed 28,500 additional troops to Iraq, Sunni Muslim tribesmen rebelled against religious extremists in their areas and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to stand down. But there has been a string of recent bombings, and U.S. commanders have warned repeatedly that insurgents will continue to attack.

Many Sunni fighters are believed to have regrouped in Diyala and other regions north of Baghdad after being driven out of the capital and Anbar province last year.

In northern Iraq today, U.S. forces accidentally killed three Iraqi policemen and injured a fourth on the road between Kirkuk and Hawija.

Iraqi police, responding to a report of a possible car bomb, drove into an area where American troops were conducting operations, said Staff Sgt. Sam Smith, a spokesman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

“Entering into a previously cordoned area at a high rate of speed, the Iraqi police received fire from a coalition force soldier who had perceived the vehicle as a threat,” Smith said in an e-mail. “The incident is currently under investigation.”

A U.S. medic treated the wounded policeman at the scene, he said.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint, injuring 11 soldiers and three civilians, said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khalil Jabouri.

In Baghdad, a bomb planted in a taxi exploded in the central Karada district, killing the driver and injuring a passenger.

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Special correspondents in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul contributed to this report.