Suicide bomber kills 12 at Iraq checkpoint

HILLA, Iraq: A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a crowded checkpoint south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 12 people and damaging dozens of cars, Iraqi police and a medical source said.

Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in bloodshed that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven principally by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighboring Syria.