Car bomb near Iraq's Falluja kills 19 - police

BAGHDAD, June 5 (Reuters) At least 19 people were killed and 25 others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his car in a market just outside Iraq's western city of Falluja today, police said.

Hospital sources said most of the victims were women and children.

A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people and wounded another 20 last week when he blew himself up in a queue of about 150 young men at a police recruitment centre in Diyala province.

Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, is in restive Anbar province, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgency.

Some Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar have been engaged in a war over control in Anbar against al-Qaeda militants. The tribes have joined forces with the police to the militants who are targeting tribes who cooperate with authorities in Anbar.

The US military has more than 6,000 troops in Anbar, where local commanders have said that al Qaeda accounts for about 75 per cent of militants in and around Falluja.

REUTERS JK BST0040