Suicide bombing in northern Iraq wounds 15

Jan 29, 2008, 13:29 GMT

Baghdad - A suicide bombing targeting a US patrol in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul Tuesday left 15 people wounded, one day after five US soldiers died in an ambush in the city, according to security sources.

A suicide bomber driving a car hit a US patrol east of Mosul, injuring 15 civilians, Gen Khalid Abdel-Sattar, the spokesman for security operations in Nineveh province, told the Voices of Iraq VOI news agency.

Reports on casualties among US soldiers were not immediately available.

The bombing comes a day after insurgents in Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, ambushed a US convoy with a roadside bomb, then sprayed survivors with machine-gun fire from a nearby mosque, killing five US soldiers.

The attack, which is the second worst on US troops this month, is another indication that the centre of Sunni Arab insurgency is shifting to northern Iraq.

A US troop surge and a large-scale offensive against insurgents in Baghdad and surrounding areas have reduced violence there and driven fighters to flee into northern Iraq.

The Iraqi government is sending military reinforcements into Mosul as part of a 'decisive battle' against militants.

In Baquba - another hotbed of Sunni insurgency - an Iraqi army patrol found 20 bodies during raids across the city, Iraqi military sources told VOI. Nine of the bodies were headless and others bore signs of torture.

Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, is the capital of Diyala province where US and Iraqi forces have been carrying out a major offensive against the extremist Islamic State of Iraq group, which is allied to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.