By Xinhua,
Mosul (Iraq) : At least 18 people were killed and 20 wounded Friday in a car bomb explosion in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, the police said.
The blast occured in a market in Tal Afar town, some 70 km west of the provincial capital of Mosul, a police official said on condition of anonymity.
The Nineveh province, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is considered to be one of the last strongholds of the Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq.
Of late, the province has been the scene of a major security crackdown by the US and Iraqi security forces against Al Qaeda militants and other insurgent groups.