Three US marines and two interpreters were among 20 people killed today when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a tribal council meeting in Iraq's Anbar province - the third against a local branch of the Iraqi government in a week.
Another 12 people were wounded in the attack in Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, said Colonel Dawood al-Maraawi, police spokesman in nearby Falluja.
The head of the Garma tribal council, Mizher Mshawih, the leader of the district council, Kamal Abdul-Salam, and some other tribal leaders were among those killed, Maraawi said.
Three policemen were also killed, he said.
The suicide bomber managed to get into a meeting between the tribal council of Garma, made up of local tribal leaders, and Abdul-Salam.
The meeting was being held inside the building of the local council which also serves as headquarters of the tribal council.
In a separate incident, a car bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed 18 people and wounded another 62.
Reuters