Suicide bomber kills 15 in north Iraq

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle in a village in northern Iraq today, killing 15 people, police and a doctor said.
The blast hit a residential area of Al-Muwaffaqiyah, a village east of Mosul that is mainly populated by members of the small Shabak minority.
The 30,000-strong Shabak community mostly lives near Iraq's border with Turkey.
They speak a distinct language and largely follow a faith that is a blend of Shiite Islam and local beliefs, and are periodically targeted in attacks by militants.
Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

The surge in violence, which has included waves of sectarian attacks, has raised fears of a relapse into the intense sectarian bloodshed that killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-2007.
With the latest attack, more than 330 people have been killed so far this month, and over 5,000 since the beginning of the year.