Baquba, Iraq - A suicide bomber killed two US soldiers, an Iraqi interpreter, and two bystanders in the Iraqi city of Baquba on Tuesday, witnesses said.

Eleven people were also wounded when a man detonated explosives strapped to his body near the offices of the local government in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, witnesses told the German News Agency, dpa.

Baquba, Iraq  - It is election season in Baquba, the capital of Iraq's volatile and ethnically mixed Diyala province, and formerly one of the main battlefields in the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The streets are festooned with posters and stickers, often in layers, as political partisans rip competitors' posters down and replace them with their own.

Candidates make speeches, bestow gifts, and listen to the voters at gatherings around the city.

Six hundred candidates are running for 29 seats in Baquba's local government. More than 500 voting centres have been set up to accommodate what election officials hope will be record participation.

Baquba, Iraq ­ They sound like a loud mosquito buzzing above your head or a lawnmower rumbling in the distance. And you'll only see them by chance ­ day or night