Suicide bombers kill 11 military, police in Iraq dinner attack: Police

Suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Sunni militia leader's house in northern Baghdad as he was hosting dinner.

BAGHDAD: Two suicide bombers killed at least 11 military and police officers and wounded 19 late on Tuesday by blowing themselves up outside a Sunni militia leader's house in northern Baghdad as he was hosting dinner.

Police in the Sunni neighbourhood said the leader of the Sunni "Sahwa" militia, Saeed Jassim, was not hurt, but the commander of the military battalion deployed in the region and his deputy were among those who were killed.

In Mosul, a suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives detonated the car near a police checkpoint in the west of the city late on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, including three policemen, police and medical sources said.

Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni province of Nineveh, is a stronghold for insurgents who have been reinvigorated by growing resentment of the government that came to power after the US-led invasion in 2003.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks but al Qaeda often deploys suicide bombers.

The Sunni insurgency, including the Iraqi affiliate of al Qaeda, has intensified attacks in Iraq since the beginning of the year as sectarian tensions across the Middle East have been exacerbated by the civil war in Syria.

More than 7,000 people were killed in violence so far this year, according to monitoring group Iraq Body Count.