Suicide Bomber Kills 10 Sufi Muslims in House

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a gathering of Sufi Muslims north of Baghdad, killing 10 people, Interior Ministry officials said Friday.

The bomber detonated his explosives Thursday night in a house near the town of Balad as Sufis gathered for a religious ceremony, the officials said. They said 12 people had been wounded.

In another suicide attack, a car bomber killed five Iraqi soldiers Friday outside a U.S. base in Tikrit, local police said. Seven people were wounded.

Tensions have developed between Iraq’s Shiite majority and the Sunni Arab minority that dominated during Saddam Hussein’s rule. But until Thursday, Iraq’s small Sufi community had been spared major attacks.

Sufis, who can be Sunni or Shiite, follow a form of Islamic mysticism that stresses the need for a personal experience of God. Some conservative Muslims consider them emotional or even heretical.

Thursday’s attack on Sufis was one of at least four suicide bombings across the country that day that killed at least 19 Iraqis and wounded dozens.

In Kirkuk, capital of the strategic oil-rich province of Al Tamim claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, drive-by gunmen killed a leading Turkmen official as he left Friday prayers, police said.

The victim, Brig. Gen. Sabah Qaratun, worked for Kirkuk’s local government and was a member of a leading Turkmen party.

Although Iraqis bore the brunt of insurgent violence last month, it also took a heavy toll on U.S. troops. May was the deadliest month of the war for part-time American servicemen, 31 of whom died: 14 members of the Army National Guard, 12 from the Marine Corps Reserve, four from the Army Reserve and one Navy Reserve hospital corpsman attached to a Marine combat unit.

The overall U.S. death toll in Iraq last month, counting active duty as well as reserve forces, was 80. That is the highest since January, when 107 died.