BAGHDAD, Dec 20: A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives in Iraq’s restive Diyala province on Thursday, killing 13 neighbourhood patrol volunteers and a US soldier.

US forces said the bomber struck an American foot patrol near a building where a city council meeting was to be held, killing one US soldier and wounding 10 in Kanaan, near Baquba, capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.

Iraqi police said the building was being used to recruit volunteers for neighbourhood patrols to fight Al Qaeda militants and 13 recruits were killed.

The US military said only five Iraqis died in the attack, but a photographer filmed at least eight dead bodies arriving at a morgue in Baquba. All appeared to be adult males in blood-soaked civilian clothes.

Mainly Sunni Arab neighbourhood patrols have joined US forces to fight Al Qaeda militants, a tactic Washington says has helped towards a 60 per cent drop in attacks in Iraq since June.

But the patrols have increasingly been targeted by militants, especially in provinces like Diyala north of Baghdad, where US commanders say al Qaeda has regrouped after being pushed out of other parts of Iraq.

US commanders said they had found a torture chamber in Diyala province with chains on the walls and a battery connected to an iron bed, describing it as proof of Al Qaeda activity.—Reuters