Female suicide bomber kills at least 20 Iraqis during iftar

A female suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowd of people during an iftar in the Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding around 30, a top military officer said.

General Abdel Karim alRubaie, the commander of Iraqi troops in Diyala, north of Baghdad, said the attack was in the town of Bala Druz, south of the provincial capital Baquba. He said the bomber blew herself up at around 7:30 pm when people had gathered to break the Ramadan fast at the home of a detainee who was released from a US military prison on Sunday.

Baquba police Lieutenant Ali Ahmed also confirmed the attack,saying the former detainee, a police officer, had arranged a special dinner on Monday for his friends and relatives when the attack took place.Ahmed said the released detainee was killed in the blast, along with his father and another senior police officer from Bala Druz.

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Some of Iraq's public art returns to Baghdad streets

Shahryar has recovered his hand and Abu Nuwas will soon be clutching his wine goblet again. Statues damaged during the US-led invasion are being restored to their former glory across Baghdad.

Legendary king of Samarkand in "OneThousand and One Nights," Shahryar is back on his pedestal near a statue of storyteller Sheherazade overlooking the Tigris River, complete with a new hand to replace the one hacked away by vandals.

Abu Nuwas, the famed eighth-century poet who wrote about wine and the joys of drinking, will soon recover the bronze cup spirited away by thieves after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime following the March 2003 invasion.

Craftsmen and artists commissioned by Baghdad municipality are busy restoring the cup and other items that have vanished since US-led troops entered Baghdad more than five years ago.

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Jordan's king visits Iraq, urges Arabs to support country

Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday on the first visit to Iraq by an Arab head of state since the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.

The monarch went immediately on arrival in the Iraqi capital into talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before meeting Vice President Adel Abdel-Mehdi, officials said.

Discussions focused on means "to improve bilateral relations in all fields" and were "frank and positive," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Maliki's hailed the ties between the neighbors.

"This visit will open a new page in relations between the two countries which will help to maintain the stability and security in Iraq and all the region," Maliki said.

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At least 56 killed in Iraq violence, including 25 pilgrims

Three female bombers blew themselves up on Monday in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad,one of a string of attacks in Iraq that killed at least 56 people, undermining hopes of a drop in violence.

Scores of people were also wounded in the attacks, which came after a relative lull in the sectarian violence that has sharply escalated in Iraq since February 2006, when insurgents blew up a Shiite mosque in the central city of Samarra.

The triple attack in Baghdad killed at least 25 pilgrims as they headed to a holy shrine for a major religious ceremony on the Shiite Muslim calendar that has been marred by bloodshed in the past, security officials said.

Another 27 people died and 126 others were wounded in a suicide bombing during a protest rally in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, and by gunfire in a panicked stampede that followed, local officials said.

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Massive Baghdad blast kills at least 51, wounds 75

A car bomb at a bus stop in northern Baghdad killed at least 51 people and wounded 75 on Tuesday in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in months, security officials told AFP.

The attack took place in the mainly Shiite Al-Hurriyah neighborhood at around 5:30 p.m., at the peak of the evening rush hour, the officials said.

Several nearby buildings and vehicles caught fire in the aftermath of the explosion that was so powerful it could be heard more than 5 kilometers away.

The casualties, many of them women and children, were taken to several city hospitals, officials said.

The car bombing came just hours after a bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded at a checkpoint in another area of northern Baghdad, killing four fighters of a group battling Al-Qaeda militants.That attack took place at around 10 a.m.at a checkpoint run by the US-funded militia in the Al-Sulek district, security officials said. Four other members of the group were wounded, along with two civilians.

Al-Qaeda has repeatedly targeted such groups, whose members were once its allies but in late 2006 turned against the Islamist group after receiving funds from the US military.

In recent months, insurgent attacks such as car bombs and suicide strikes have dropped significantly in Baghdad amid improved security.

Tuesday's attack in Baghdad was the biggest since March 7, when 68 people were killed in twin bombings.

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