BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up at the entrance to a police station north of the city yesterday, killing three people and wounding 18, officials said.
Two police officers were killed and 10 injured in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, authorities said.
The head of the Tarmiyah city council, Qassim Khalifa, said it was not clear whether the bomber was really disabled or using the wheelchair as a way to deflect attention from security.
The bomber went to the police station saying he needed a letter from the police certifying he had been maimed in a terror attack, Khalifa said. Iraqis who have been disabled from a bombing or shooting can receive compensation from the government if their injuries are documented. “Police inspected him but not very carefully as he was handicapped or pretending to be handicapped, so they let him go inside the police reception area where the blast occurred,’’ he said.
Also yesterday, two American troops were killed in northern Iraq while conducting operations, the US military said. The names of the dead are being withheld pending notification of relatives. The deaths bring to 4,465 the number of American troops who have died in Iraq. Eleven Americans died in combat there so far this month.
In Baghdad, security authorities were out in force to protect Shi’ite pilgrims converging from around the country to commemorate the death of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a revered Shi’ite figure. Predominantly Sunni militants often target the pilgrims as they are walking to and from the shrine where Kadhim is buried.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi court has sentenced the wife of a slain Al Qaeda leader to 20 years in prison on terrorism-related charges, an Iraqi judicial spokesman said. Hasna Ali Yahya, the Yemeni wife of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was convicted of facilitating correspondence between insurgents and preparing explosive-laden belts.
