According to Iraqi security officials, almost 11 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack carried by a woman in a small town north of Baghdad on Wednesday.

The woman had a belt with explosives which she detonated near a Shia mosque in Diyala province, BBC News reports.

The attack occurred in the town of Khan Bani Saad, south of Baquba, which is the capital of the province.

According to a local military commander, 18 people were injured in the attack which happened in a market populated at that time.

The wounded were treated in Baghdad, according to some reports, due to security problems.

One BBC correspondent said that it looked as if the attack had a religious purpose. 

It is the third of its kind in the last two months in the Baquba area to be carried out by a woman.

This month a new offensive was initiated by the U.S. military in order to force out the al-Qaeda insurgents from the mixed province, the Voice of America informs.

Diyala province is the battlefield between the Sunni insurgents and its rivals.

Here the Shia and the Sunni live together.

People were gathered around the mosque for the Shia ceremony of Ashura which is due Saturday.

Two other civilians were killed and 10 others wounded by another attack. The bomb placed by the road targeted an Iraqi army patrol and exploded in Baghdad.

According to police, on Tuesday six other people were found dead in different parts of Baghdad.

In Nahrawan, south of Baghdad, two people reportedly died from roadside bombings and three others were injured by three successive attacks in Baghdad.