BAQUBA, Iraq, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and eight others injured when a suicide car bomber struck a group of Iranian pilgrims in Iraq's Diyala province on Tuesday, a provincial police source said.
The attack took place in the afternoon when a suicide bomber blew up his booby-trapped car at a restaurant in Qsaireen area, some 35 km northeast of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attacker targeted Iranian pilgrims who enter Iraq from the al-Mundriyah Iraqi-Iranian border point through Diyala province heading to the Shiite holy sites in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the source said.
Many of the Iranian pilgrimage groups use to have rest at the restaurant in Qsaireen area during their trip through the province, he said.
The blast killed five Iranian pilgrims and wounded five others, while two Iraqis killed and three others wounded at the scene, the source added.
Earlier in the day, the source said that another suicide bomber killed three people and wounded up to 25 others when the attacker blew up his explosive-laden car at a Shiite Torkman residential area in the town of Qara-Tappa, some 120 km north of the provincial capital city of Baquba.
Earlier, the source put the toll at three killed and nine injured, but he expected that the toll could rise as civil defense team and residents were removing debris from three houses collapsed by the powerful blast.
Late on Monday, Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, was the scene of another bomb attack when a suicide bomber detonated his booby-trapped car at a parking lot close to the casino in the city, killing seven people and wounding 26 others.
Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border east of the country, has long been a stronghold for al-Qaida militants and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite repeated U.S. and Iraqi military operations against them.
Special Report: Situation in Iraq
