Iraqi guards kill female bomber

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi guards opened fire on a female suicide bomber on Sunday and triggered her explosives belt before she reached their headquarters, foiling the latest of more than 20 suicide missions by women this year, military officials said.

The bomber was targeting the headquarters of an awakening council — Sunni volunteers who have turned against insurgents — about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. One of the guards was wounded in the blast, the Iraqi military said.

The number of female suicide attackers has risen from eight in 2007 to more than 20 so far this year, according to U.S. military figures. Including Sunday’s attack, at least nine have occurred in Diyala province, a former al-Qaida stronghold where the extremist group is trying to regroup after setbacks last year.

A female suicide bomber struck outside a government complex a week ago in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 40, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

The attacks are part of an uptick in violence against Iraqi security forces and local administrations.

A truck bomb detonated by remote control Sunday killed six policemen and an awakening council member in Duluiyah, some 45 miles north of Baghdad, said police Col. Mohammed Khalid.

In other violence, gunmen killed the head of Basra’s intelligence department Saturday in a drive-by shooting in eastern Baghdad, local police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Brig. Gen. Jabar Musaid, who played a leading role in the recent government crackdown against Shiite militias in Basra, was visiting relatives in a neighborhood controlled by militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Asked about the uptick in violence, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said that Iraqi militants remain “resilient and determined” despite an overall improvement in the security situation.