Jun 23, 2017

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a town in western Iraq on Friday, killing at least eight civilians and a soldier, officers said.

He was one of a group of four suicide bombers who infiltrated a neighbourhood of Al-Baghdadi, a town on the Euphrates River in the restive western province of Anbar.

"Army forces were able to kill three suicide bombers after trapping them in a house in the Martyrs neighbourhood by detonating their belts with gunfire," a senior police officer said.

"The fourth managed to hide and later blow himself up in the midst of a group of civilians and soldiers," the officer said.

The police officer and Sharhabil al-Obeidi, a local district official, said eight civilians and a soldier were killed in the blast, while another 11 people were wounded.