Death toll rises to 35 in double suicide blast in N Iraq wedding

BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 35 in double suicide blast which struck a wedding convoy Thursday evening in northeast of Baghdad, and 76 others were wounded, police said.

The two suicide bombers, one of them a female, blew themselves off as a wedding convoy passed by a main street in the town of Balad Ruz, 30 km east of Baquba, the capital city of the restive Diyala province.

Police said the first female bomber blew herself up in front of the wedding convoy, and the second bomber went off as people nearby gathered to help the wounded.

Diyala province, which stretches from northeastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has long been the stronghold of al-Qaida militant groups and hotbed of insurgency and sectarian violence since the U.S.-led invasion broke out in 2003.

BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of Iraqis across the country climbed to 1,073 people mostly by fierce clashes between Sadr's followers and U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces, a security source said on Thursday.

Figures compiled by Iraqi Interior, Defense and Heath ministries, showed that 966 civilians and 107 security members were killed nationwide, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Full story

BAGHDAD, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confirmed on Wednesday his vow to disband all the armed groups, including Shiite Mahdi Army militia, whom he accused of using civilians as "human shields" in fightings in Sadr City.

"We will not stop until we take all the weapons from them ilitia and disband Mahdi Army and Sunni insurgent groups like Islamic Army and Omer Army," Maliki said in a press conference in Baghdad.