BAGHDAD — A female suicide bomber concealing explosives beneath her black robe struck outside a government complex in Baqouba, a former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, on Sunday. At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
It was the 21st suicide mission carried out by a woman in Iraq this year, the U.S. military said, as al-Qaida and other Sunni militant groups try to regroup from major losses suffered at the hands of U.S. and Iraqi forces.
It appeared that the latest attack was timed to maximize casualties since many people were leaving the compound because the government offices there were to close soon for the day.
A U.S. military statement said seven Iraqi police and eight civilians were dead. Ten police were among the wounded. Iraqi authorities said 16 people were killed and 42 wounded.
Al-Qaida has increasingly been using women because their black, billowing abaya robes easily conceal explosives. Iraqi police often lack enough female officers to search women carefully.
The number of suicide attacks by women has risen from eight in 2007 to 21 so far this year, according to U.S. military figures.
To the north on Sunday, a roadside bomb apparently targeting a police patrol struck a civilian vehicle instead, killing four people near Kirkuk, police reported. A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint Sunday in the northwestern city of Mosul, wounding 14 people, including four police officers.
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