MOSUL, Dec 21: A suicide bomber on Sunday used a ‘kiss of death’ to kill an Iraqi army officer who was guarding a roadblock in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, security officials said.

The bomber approached the officer with a big smile and gave him hug as if he was a friend, then blew himself up, police officer Hamid al-Juburi said.

Another two soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the blast, army colonel Ahmad Saeed said.

The US military considers the Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, to be the last urban stronghold of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Americans believe that Al Qaeda had been behind hundreds of bombings since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.—AFP