A suicide bomber killed 15 people and wounded 10 others on Monday at a funeral near the volatile northern Iraqi oil refinery city of Baiji, security officials said.It was the latest in a spate of suicide bombings in northern Iraq, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a major operation to drive out al Qaeda militants. The Sunni Islamist group is seen as responsible for most suicide attacks in Iraq.
The bomber walked into a funeral tent for a local tribal leader and blew himself up among mourners, who included Salahuddin provincial government officials and members of a local U.S.-backed anti-al Qaeda Awakening Council. "There was a big explosion. The tent was filled with the body parts of mourners. No one can be identified," said one survivor, Ahmed Abdullah, a Salahuddin government official.
Funeral tents have frequently been targeted in Iraq's sectarian bloodletting between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis because it is easy for suicide bombers to mingle among mourners without being noticed.
The attack came as the United Nations' chief envoy in Iraq gave a mixed report to the Security Council in New York on the country's situation.
Staffan de Mistura said security had improved, but that Iraqi political consensus was needed for a long-term reduction in violence. The head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) told the council the reasons for the reduced level of violence include the increased presence of U.S. and other troops, a ceasefire declared y Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and increased cooperation with Iraq's neighbors.