Nine Sunni fighters die in suicide attack in Iraq

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Saturday among US-allied Sunni paramilitaries collecting their salaries at an army base, killing nine and wounding about 30, Iraqi officials said. The attack in the town of Jbala, about 35 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, follows a bloody week of bombings that killed more than 50 people in the capital. Five US soldiers died Friday in a bombing in Mosul - the deadliest attack against American troops in more than a year. About 250 members of Sunni paramilitaries known as Awakening Councils or Sons of Iraq were mingling around the Jbala base about 11 a.m. when the bomber struck.