Baghdad  - A car bomb attack on a police patrol in north-east Iraq killed 10 civilians and injured 14 on Sunday, a security source in Diala province said.

The explosion took place near a courthouse in the al-Wihda neighborhood of Jalawlaa, 212 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, the al-Buratha news agency reported.

Earlier, a bomb went off in north-eastern Baghdad, killing three

people and wounding seven, police said.

The bomb was detonated near near a checkpoint in al-Shaab manned by members of a pro-US tribal force known as the Awakening Councils.

A civilian and two tribal members died. Seven tribal members were among the wounded, a police source told Voices Of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

The Awakening Councils - also know as Sons of Iraq - are made up of 99,000 Sunni tribe members, who, angered by al-Qaeda killing of civilians, allied themselves with US forces.

They have been responsible for driving out a large number of militants since 2005. (dpa)