Suicide bomber kills up to 17 at funeral

A bomber walked undetected into a funeral Monday evening and blew himself up, killing as many as 17 others and injuring nine in a predominantly Sunni village near Tikrit, police said.

The explosion in Hajaj village killed Iraqis attending a funeral for Antar Abdullah, a tribal leader and brother of the Salahuddin provincial governor’s security chief.

The security officer, Ahmed Abdullah, left the funeral minutes before the attack and was not injured. Many other officials, including tribal chiefs and members of volunteer security forces, also attended the funeral, but police said they had survived the bombing.

The attack comes a day after an 18-year-old walked into a party carrying a box of chocolates and detonated hidden explosives, killing himself, his cousin -- a Sunni fighter working with U.S. and Iraqi forces -- and four others.

Nobody had questioned the teen because he was a family member and known to many in the Anbar province village.

Monday’s suicide bomber was able to infiltrate the funeral tent, where people had gathered for the final day of mourning, an event marked by a meal in which people come and go throughout the evening.

Elsewhere, a parked car exploded in Qayyarah, about 50 miles south of Mosul, killing two civilians and wounding nine others. The explosion targeted an Iraqi army patrol unit, said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Juboori, commander of Nineveh’s police operation.

Seven bodies were found around Baghdad on Monday, all men who had been shot, police said.

The U.S. military on Monday also reported the deaths of two personnel over the weekend.

A soldier was slain Saturday in a bombing in Arab Jabour, just south of Baghdad. A Marine was killed the same day while conducting combat operations in Anbar province. Their names were not released pending notification of family.

Since the American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, at least 3,930 U.S. troops have been killed, according to the independent website icasualties.org.

kimi.yoshino@latimes.com

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