MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) -- A suicide bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 33 on October 16 in an attack on a Sunni Muslim mosque in north Iraq's restive province of Nineveh, police said.
The province is seen as the last major holdout of insurgents after they were largely driven out of Baghdad and western Anbar Province by Sunni tribal sheikhs allied to U.S. forces. Suicide attacks on Sunni rather than Shi'ite mosques are rare.
Police said that a man blew himself up in Tal Afar, 420 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, during Friday prayers.
Iraq has seen a dramatic fall in attacks over the last 18 months and is a far cry from the sectarian carnage that gripped the country a few years ago.
Still, bombings, shootings, and other killings occur on a daily basis and are expected to rise ahead of a general election in the world's 11th largest oil producer in January.
Tal Afar, a town that is mainly home to minority Turkmen Shi'ites, has been targeted frequently in bombings, including two on July 9 that killed at least 34 people, and another on July 11 in which four people were killed.