BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police officials say a suicide bomber has blown himself up in a Kurdish town northeast of Baghdad, killing 25 people.
They said the Monday attack in the town of Khanaqin in the turbulent Diyala province also wounded 35 people, many of them in critical condition. It took to nearly 50 the number of people killed in violence across much of Iraq ahead of key parliamentary elections later this week.
The police officials said the suicide bomber blew himself up near a group of Kurds celebrating the appearance in a video clip aired on TV of Iraq’s ailing president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has been in Germany since 2012 for medical treatment.
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The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.