Pat Dollard

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How much you wanna bet she was an unwilling participant?

At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Sunday, including 16 by a woman suicide bomber who blew herself up in the central city of Baquba, security officials said.

The bomber detonated her explosive vest beside a police patrol near the gate of the Diyala provincial governor’s headquarters and a courthouse, a security official said.

Doctor Ahmed Fuad from Baquba hospital said 16 bodies had been received by the hospital’s mortuary.

Among those killed were eight policemen, two women and a child, he told AFP.

An AFP correspondent on the scene said several police vehicles were set alight by the explosion, and nearby buildings were also damaged by the blast.

Baquba and the surrounding province of Diyala have seen a series of suicide bombings by women over the past year.

The province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda, remains one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq despite levels of violence nationwide hitting a four-year low.

Iraqi and US forces have been engaged in a sustained offensive against Al-Qaeda in the province.

(AFP)