By Xinhua,
Mosul, Iraq : A suicide car bomber on Tuesday struck an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, killing seven people and wounding seven others, a provincial police source said.
The incident occurred when the suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint in the al-Quds neighborhood in southeastern Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The source could not tell whether any of the soldiers was among the casualty, but he said that there were children among the victims.
Iraqi security forces immediately sealed off the area to secure the scene and evacuated the casualties, he said.
Nineveh province, and its capital Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is widely regarded as one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.
The province has been the scene of a major security crackdown carried out by U.S. and Iraqi security forces aimed at uprooting al-Qaida militants and other anti-U.S. insurgent groups.
Violence has dropped to a four-year low in Iraq, but sporadic car bombings, roadside bombs and suicide attacks still haunt the Iraqis.