BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A woman suicide bomber killed four people, including two policemen, and wounded 12 others on Wednesday in restive Diyala province north of Baghdad, police said.
The woman approached police guarding the premises of anorganization that arranges religious pilgrimages in the town ofBalad Ruz, about 70 km northeast of Baghdad, before blowingherself up, police said.
The bombing was the latest in a string of attacks carriedout by women. Last month, two female suicide bombers killed 99people at a crowded pet market, marking the deadliest day inthe capital for almost a year.
On Monday, police initially said a woman suicide bomberkilled 40 people in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, south ofBaghdad, although some police officials later said the bomb wasremotely detonated.
The U.S. military says al Qaeda is recruiting more women asit casts its net wider in the face of growing hostility fromIraqis and greater military successes by U.S. and Iraqi forces.Women are less likely to be stopped and searched.
Even though attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percentsince last June, religiously mixed Diyala remains a problemarea for U.S. and Iraqi forces.
It is one of four provinces where they have launchedoffensives to root out al Qaeda militants, who have regroupednorth of Baghdad after being ousted from former strongholds tothe west and in and around the capital.
(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Michael Winfrey)
