US soldiers began a patrol on Tuesday in Baquba, Iraq, where a suicide bomber struck on Wednesday.

Among the victims were five soldiers and a police officer, a ministry official said. The blast wounded 17 others.

The official said the woman, covered in a traditional black garment known as an abaya, blew herself up near a security checkpoint outside the courthouse.

On Tuesday, Iraqi authorities arrested a 38-year-old woman, Ibtisam Adwan, suspected of heading up the recruitment of female suicide bombers.

More than 30 female suicide bombers have triggered explosions so far in 2008. Half of them were in Diyala province.