At least 13 dead in Iraq violence

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A suicide truck bomber has killed at least 11 people in an attack on a checkpoint north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police say.

The victims were members of a US-backed volunteer group that opposes al-Qaeda.

There are unconfirmed reports that several children were killed in the incident in the town of Mashahida.

Meanwhile, two members of the Iraqi security forces died when a roadside bomb exploded beside their patrol, near the Iranian border in Diyala province.

Police said four others were injured in the attack in the town of Mandali. Diyala province has been the focus of some of the fiercest clashes in Iraq in recent months.

Correspondents say insurgents displaced from their former strongholds in Anbar province and parts of Baghdad are now thought to be in Diyala.

Training and arms

The truck bombing occurred about 30km (20 miles) north of Baghdad, on the main road linking the capital with the north of the country, police said.

AWAKENING COUNCILS Membership around 80,000Sunnis and former insurgentsPaid by the US <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7116717.stm">Militia brings calm</a>

The victims were said to be members of the Awakening Councils - Sunni tribal militias that have turned against al-Qaeda.

Many in the Sunni community say they dislike the austere form of Islam that al-Qaeda practises.

The US has provided them with training and arms. They are credited with helping to push back al-Qaeda in areas where they had been operating with relative freedom.

US officials say this has helped reduce attacks in Iraq by 60% since June.

But neighbourhood patrols have increasingly come under attack from Sunni radicals. And al-Qaeda has also carried out a number of attacks on Sunni figures opposed to it.