25 killed in Iraq suicide bombing

BAQUBA - At least 25 people were killed and 75 injured when a suicide bomber targeted a crowded coffee shop late Friday in Iraq’s Diyala province, police sources said.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden belt inside the popular coffee shop in Baquba city, some 57 km north of Baghdad.

The cafe was located in Baladruz district, where the majority of residents are Shia Kurds.

A curfew was imposed in Baladruz, police said.

Baquba, once a stronghold of Al Qaeda, is the ethnically mixed capital of Diyala, which remains one of the country’s most unstable provinces.

The blast was the first major attack in Iraq in several weeks, as a seven-month political stalemate surrounding the formation of a new government has dragged on.

Both Iraqi civilians and security forces have increasingly come under attack from insurgents in recent months, with less than 50,000 US troops now stationed in the country — their lowest level since the 2003 invasion.