By Xinhua
Baghdad : The toll from a suicide bombing explosion in a district near the volatile city of Baquba in central Iraq rose to 17 dead and up to 30 wounded, a local police source said on Wednesday.
“Our latest report said that at least 17 people were killed and30 others injured when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive-belt blew himself up, ripping through a popular cafe in the al-Abbarah district, just north of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, on Tuesday night,” the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, the source put the toll at 14 killed and 28 injured due to the powerful blast.
On Tuesday afternoon, four people, including three policemen, were killed, and 11 others, including two policemen, were injured when a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint near a hospital in central Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.
All the killed were transported to a morgue while the wounded were sent to a nearby hospital, he added.
Diyala province has long been the hot bed of insurgency and sectarian violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.