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At least 18 killed in Iraqi bomb attack

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-09 12:37

MOSUL, Iraq -- A car bomb explosion in northern Iraq on Friday evening killed at least 18 people and left more than 20 others wounded, a local police source said.

The blast struck a market in the ethnically mixed town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, said the police source which declined to be named.

Nineveh province, as well as its capital city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.

The province has been the scene of a major security crackdown carried out by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to uproot al-Qaida militants and other anti-U.S. insurgent groups.

Violence has dropped to a four-year low, while sporadic car bombings and suicide attacks are still haunting the Iraqis.