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BAGHDAD — Insurgents accidentally set off their own car bomb Monday at a training camp in an orchard in a Sunni area north of Baghdad, leaving 21 dead and some two dozen arrested, Iraqi officials said.

The militants were attending a suicide bombing training class when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives.

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Authorities found seven car bombs — all without plates — several explosive belts and roadside bombs after searching two houses and a garage in the dense area, offering a rare glimpse into the workings of militants behind a resurgence in violence in the country. Bomb experts began working immediately to defuse the explosives.

Security forces rushed to the area after hearing the explosion and arrested 22 men trying to flee the area, including several who had been wounded.

Car bombs are among the deadliest weapons used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an extremist Sunni group that recently broke with al-Qaida.