Suicide bomber kills 20 northeast of Baghdad-police

BAGHDAD, May 23 (Reuters) A bomber wearing a suicide vest killed 20 people and wounded 30 in a cafe in a volatile province northeast of Baghdad today, police said.

The attack took place in Mandali, a mainly Shi'ite Kurd town about 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border.

Local mayor Abdul Hussein al-Qaralusy put the death toll at 11, with 24 wounded. Qaralusy said the bomber was wearing a suicide vest when he walked into the centre of the cafe and blew himself up.

Mandali is in volatile Diyala province, a large, religiously mixed region which has seen some of the worst violence since the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The US military has sent an extra 3,000 troops to Diyala in an attempt to quell the violence.

Sectarian killings and attacks by Sunni Islamist al Qaeda occur regularly in Diyala, a mainly Sunni Arab province which also has significant Shi'ite and Kurdish populations.

REUTERS DS BD1435