Woman suicide bomber kills eight in Iraq

BAQUBA  - Eight people were killed and 20 wounded on Thursday when a female suicide bomber blew herself up as a Sahwa (Awakening) patrol passed in Baquba in eastern Iraq, police and medical sources said.
The attack was in the central New Baquba neighbourhood, and targeted a Sahwa patrol of Iraqi forces - former insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq and paid by the US military.
One of the dead was local Sahwa leader Naim Al-Dulaimi, police said, while medical sources said women and children were among the wounded.Iraq presidency council vetoes election bill
Meanwhile, Iraq’s three-member Presidency Council said on Thursday it had rejected a provincial election bill, a move widely expected to delay October polls which are strongly backed by Washington.
“President (Jalal) Talabani, and his deputy Adel Abdel Mahdi, have agreed that the law of the provincial elections contains constitutional and procedural violations,” a statement from Talabani’s office said.
“Due to this, the two sides have agreed to officially reject the law,” it said.
Mahdi’s decision to back Talabani’s call, involving returning the bill to parliament for redrafting, gives the Presidency Council a majority in rejecting it, even as they await the view of Council member Tariq al-Hashimi.
Talabani’s announcement came after deputy parliament speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya told AFP on Wednesday that the Presidency Council had decided to turn down the bill.
The rebuff means that elections in Iraq’s 18 provinces, scheduled for October 1, will almost certainly be delayed while the law is reworked.
The veto is a setback for Washington and the administration of President George W. Bush which has been pushing Baghdad to hold provincial elections as a crucial step to national reconciliation.