Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up at a restaurant in Diyala province in northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 15 people and wounding 15 others, a local police source said.

    "A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest inside Dilshad Restaurant in the town of Khanaqin, killing 15 people and wounding 15 others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The attacker targeted the restaurant during lunchtime when there are crowded customers, the source said.

    Khanaqin, with a population of around 250,000 people, lies on the northeastern edge of Iraq's volatile Arab-majority Diyala province.

    Like some 40 towns and cities in Iraq, the town is disputed by competing ethnic interests in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion.