MOSUL, Iraq, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A suicide truck bomb struck the house of an Iraqi tribal leader in a town near the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, on Tuesday, killing a civilian and wounding 22 others, a provincial police source said.

    Abdul Razzaq al-Wagga', head of the Jubour tribe, one of Iraq's largest tribe, and his wife escaped with injuries when a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with explosives into their house in the town of Qaiyarah, some 50 km south of Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    A civilian was killed and 22 people were wounded, along destroying Wagga' house and several nearby houses, the source said.

    Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene as ambulances and rescue teams rushed to evacuate the casualties, he said.

    According to the source, Wagga' was a Staff Maj. Gen. in the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein regime and now he is retired, but maintains great respect among officials and other tribal leaders in the town as well as the whole Nineveh province.

    The province and its capital, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is the scene of a major security crackdown carried out by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to uproot insurgent groups, including the al-Qaida in Iraqi network.

    Nineveh is said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.

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