Iraqi police said a suicide bomber has struck a funeral for a Sunni policeman north of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and injuring eight. According to the AP, police said the attacker detonated an explosives vest in the midst of the mourners at the funeral on Friday.
The attack occurred in Sadiyah, a town 60 miles north of Baghdad in the volatile Diyala province.
Meanwhile, Iraq's prime minister on Friday ordered a nationwide freeze on raids against suspected Shiite gunmen. The announcement was a major shift from remarks Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made a day earlier. It came after Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia fought government troops last week, hinted at retaliation if arrests of his followers did not stop. Al-Maliki's statement did not mention the Mahdi Army by name or give a timeframe for the freeze, saying only that the move is designed to give a "chance to those who repented and want to lay down their arms."
Also Friday, military and police officials in Basra said a number of Iraqi soldiers and police were reported to have mutinied or refused to engage al-Sadr's militants during last week's fighting. The officials said the mutiny involved a full infantry battalion belonging to the 4th Iraqi Division numbering about 500 men and some 400 policemen. The deserters also turned over to the Mahdi militia some of their weapons and vehicles, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb early Friday killed four policeman and wounded one in Hillah, a town about 60 miles south of Baghdad, a police spokesman said.
