10 killed in suicide blast in northern Iraq

At least 10 people were killed on Monday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting an Iraqi army convoy in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, a local police source told Xinhua.

The attack took place in the morning when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into an army convoy in eastern Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The attack resulted in the killing of seven soldiers and three passers-by, and the wounding of 17 people, including some soldiers, the source said.

Nineveh has long been a stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida militants, since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in five years, raising fears that the latest bloodshed is leading the country back to a full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.