[Al Jazeera] At least 21 people have been killed and 37 others maimed in a suicide kaboom near the Iraqi capital, police say.The attack that occurred on Friday at a cafe usually filled with Shia Mohammedan Kurds in Balad Ruz, a town in Diyala province northeast of Storied Baghdad.
"The boomer blew himself up inside the cafe. Most of the victims are civilians, 95 per cent are civilians," Muthana al-Timimi, the head of the security committee of the Diyala provincial council, said.
Sadeq Abbas, a Kurdish resident from Balad Ruz, told the Rooters news agency: "I was near the cafe and suddenly a big kaboom happened inside and there was chaos in the area.
"Security forces started shooting in the air to disperse the crowd and prevent people from going near the cafe."
Colonel Kadhim Bashir Saleh, a front man for Iraq's civil defence force, said the cafe, a popular venue for playing dominoes and drinking tea, was destroyed.
Al Jizz's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Baghdad, said authorities had imposed a curfew in Balad Ruz and jugged five people after the kaboom.
The blast was the first major suicide bomb attack to occur in Iraq for several weeks, as political factions continue to tussle over positions and power almost eight months after an inconclusive election.
Kurds, who have played a kingmaker role in Iraqi politics since the US-led invasion in 2003 ousted Saddam Hussein, are being courted by both coalitions but appear more likely to side with Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister and his Shia-led alliance.
Kurds have also been frequently targeted by groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq, seeking to foment ethnic and sectarian violence.
The last major attack by boomers in Iraq took place last month when fighters swarmed an army base in Baghdad, battling Iraqi and US forces for at least an hour.
At least 12 people died in the assault on a heavily guarded military headquarters.