Suicide bomber, other blasts kill 12

BAGHDAD, July 7 (UPI) -- A female suicide bomber killed nine people in a market in northern Iraq, while roadside bombs killed three others, officials said.

Police said the female suicide bomber detonated the explosive in the al-Mafraq area west of Baquba in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the BBC reported. A dozen people were injured in the blast.

Elsewhere in Baquba, police said they believe a blast that killed one and injured 15 was the work of al-Qaida in Iraq militants who planted explosives in a plastic bag outside a store, CNN reported.

In southern Baquba, Iraqi police said two female workers walking to their jobs were killed when a bomb detonated at the side of a thoroughfare used by Iraqi and U.S. troops.