Suicide bomb attack kills nine at Iraq bank: mayor

RAMADI: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bank in the north western Iraqi city of Haditha on Thursday, killing nine people including three policemen, the town's mayor said.

Eight other people, all civilians, were wounded in the midday blast at a branch of the state-owned Al-Rafidain bank in Haditha, 210 kilometres (130 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Mayor Bassim Naji said. "Nine people have been killed in the suicide attack at Al-Rafidain bank," Naji told reporters.

The blast in Haditha was the first major attack in the town since October 5, 2009, when a suicide bomber killed five people at a funeral. And on August 2 of that year, a car bomb in the town killed four women and three children.