Iraq car bombing kills at least 15

At least 15 Iraqis were killed Wednesday in a Diyala province car bombing, the third fatal bombing attack this week in the volatile region northeast of Baghdad.

Separately, a U.S. soldier was mortally wounded in a roadside blast in Diyala, officials said.

Diyala, with its mixed Shiite Muslim, Sunni Arab and Kurdish population, has been a longtime battleground in a country with simmering sectarian tensions. Shiites complain that they regularly come under attack from Sunni militant groups. Sunni politicians and members of the Awakening movement, which took a stand against the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, however, say they are targeted in politically motivated arrests by the largely Shiite national government.

The attack in Abu Sayda village adjoining Baqubah came in the early evening when a parked car exploded by a three-floor building that housed shops, according to security officers. There were conflicting numbers on the casualties, ranging from 15 to 30 dead, police and provincial officials said.

“There were many young men near the ice cream shops. Suddenly we were shocked with a huge blast that destroyed the building totally. I saw dozens of victims who were killed and wounded,” said police Lt. Ahmed Kareem, who works in Diyala’s passport directorate and was lightly wounded in the blast. “After some minutes of chaos, we heard some gunshots by the police. Some of us hid and others helped in rescuing the wounded.”

Kareem said he believed at least two local Shiite religious and political figures were killed

At least 10 buildings were damaged, Kareem said, adding that he had seen dozens of casualties lying in the street.

The attack comes as the national government remains bogged down by disagreement over the formation of a new government more than four months after national elections.

Diyala’s security forces had been on alert after the two previous bombings in the last three days, said police Maj. Ghaleb Kharki. In one attack, a suicide bomber killed an Iranian pilgrim; in the other, an explosives-rigged parked car claimed the lives of seven people.

ned.parker@latimes.com

A special correspondent in Baghdad contributed to this report.