Iraqi police and hospital sources have told VOA that a suicide truck bombing killed 23 people and wounded 29 in a Kurdish village in northern Iraq.
The blast occurred early Thursday in Wardak village near the city of Mosul, causing houses to collapse and trapping victims. Police say they thwarted a second suicide truck bombing, shooting and killing the assailant before he could trigger explosives.
There are tensions between ethnic Kurds and Arabs in the area.
Wardak is in Nineveh province, one of the last regions where al-Qaida fighters and other insurgents remain active after being forced out of other areas by U.S. and Iraqi troops.
In a separate incident, police say a bomb attack killed four people and wounded 29, in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad.