[Asharq al-Aswat] A suicide bomber killed a local leader in northern Iraq on Monday, police said, the latest attack in an area where al Qaeda remains a threat.The bomber detonated an explosive vest as leaders from the town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Nineveh province, were leaving a funeral, police said.
Hussein Akris, an independent politician who heads the Tal Afar governing council, was killed in the attack, according to Abdul Rahim al-Shimmari, head of the security and defense committee in the Nineveh provincial council.
One of Akris' bodyguards was also killed and seven others, local politicians and guards, were wounded, police said.