Thirteen Iraqis and one American soldier were killed and another ten US troops were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest outside a building in the notorious Iraqi province of Diyala yesterday.

A further ten Iraqis were wounded in the midday blast that rocked the majority Shia Arab town of Kanaan, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The US military said in a statement: “A dismounted patrol was waiting to enter a building where a city council meeting was going to be held when a suicide bomber approached and detonated the explosives the bomber was wearing.”

It put the death toll on the Iraqi side at five, with just one wounded.

Iraqi police said that the building was also being used as a recruitment post for volunteers wanting to fight extremists as part of a local Awakening group.

The US-backed initiative enables disenchanted Iraqis to oppose the perpetrators of suicide bombings and sectarian slaughters who have thrived in the aftermath of the invasion.

Paid each month by US troops and allowed to carry a weapon, these largely Sunni Arab Awakening groups have taken charge of grassroots security in their neighbourhood, becoming one of the key factors that have helped to produce a 60 per cent drop in attacks in Iraq since June.

Such patrols, however, are prime targets for insurgents who are still trying to derail the Government and force US-led troops to leave the country.

The US surge of some 30,000 additional soldiers has helped to tackle the al-Qaeda-led violence in and around Baghdad, pushing insurgent groups further north to restive areas such as Diyala.

Another contributing factor to the decline in bloodshed is a six-month ceasefire ordered by Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the influential Shia cleric, to his al-Mahdi Army in August.

The gun freeze, which has been observed to a large extent, is due to expire in February but a spokesman for Hojatoleslam al-Sadr said this week that the cleric was considering an extension.

In other developments, a car bomb exploded outside an alcohol store in central Baghdad yesterday, killing three civilians and wounding another 20, police said.

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