A suicide bomber killed 17 people and wounded 35 this evening when he blew his car up in a market in the Iraqi northern city of Tal Afar, police said.
Earlier police had said the attack targeted police and army headquarters in the city. A hospital source in Tal Afar said the casualties included civilians, police and army members.
President Bush in March held up Tal Afar as an example of progress being made in Iraq, calling it a "a free city that gives reason for hope for a free Iraq" after US-led forces freed it from al Qaeda militants in a 2005 offensive.