Female Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 9 in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A female suicide bomber struck worshippers preparing for Shiite Islam's holiest day, killing at least nine yesterday. A witness said people shouted slogans against Al Qaeda in Iraq as they carried the dead and wounded from the blast scene near a marketplace in Diyala province — a region of farmland and palm groves northeast of Baghdad that holds strategic havens for extremists. American officials say this indicates the militants are running short of male volunteers.

However, it could also be that Al Qaeda in Iraq believes women are less likely to be searched.

Northwest of Diyala small arms fire killed three American soldiers conducting operations yesterday in Salahuddin province, the military said.