Leaders targeted in Iraq bombing

Baquba is the capital of Diyala province, where recent US and Iraqi offensives targeted fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Possible target

Police named one of the dead police officers as Brigadier-General Ali Dulayyan. Two other police brigadier-generals were also killed.

Salah al-Jurani, a police major who was in the mosque, said the bomber appeared to target Raad Mullah Jawad, the provincial governor.

Al-Jurani said the bomber blew himself up as Jawad’s guards tried to stop the attacker.

Also on Monday, a suicide truck bomber killed six people on the road between northwestern Tal Afar and Mosul, police said.