Death toll in Iraqi suicide blast reaches 7

PanARMENIAN.Net - The death toll from a late night suicide attack that struck a northern Iraqi city rose on Tuesday, February 12 to seven, according to officials. A 7-year-old boy was among those killed in the bombing, AP said.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden truck late Monday night at the gate of a military base inside the city of Mosul. Officials initially said four people were killed and seven wounded. However, a police officer on Tuesday put the toll at seven dead and 15 wounded.

Elsewhere in Mosul on Monday night, assailants broke into a house, stabbing to death two men and two women, including a provincial officer's bodyguard, another police officer said.

Two health officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to release information.

The latest attacks come as a spike in violence in recent weeks as insurgents try to undermine government efforts to maintain security across the country.

Also Tuesday, a member of an exiled Iranian opposition group in Iraq died of injuries sustained in an attack Saturday on the exiles' camp on the outskirts of Baghdad, according to Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The death brought to seven the number of people killed following the attack. Assailants fired rockets and mortars at dawn Saturday on the refugee camp that houses about 3,100 Iranians.

The exiles are members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of Gobadi's council. At least 40 people were wounded.

Iraq's pro-Iranian government considers MEK a terrorist group and wants it out of the country. The refugee camp is meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to find host countries for the refugees. They are unlikely to return to Iran because of their opposition to the regime.