FACTBOX-Security Developments In Iraq, Dec 15

A female suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad.

* KHAN DHARI - Nine policemen were killed and 31 wounded when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives at their checkpoint in Khan Dhari, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said. Another police source put the death toll at three, with 30 wounded.

* TARMIYA - A female suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, killing the leader of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol, police said. The man's son was also wounded.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed seven people from a single family, members of the minority Yazidi sect, when they stormed into their home in the town of Sinjar, west of Mosul. Mosul is 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed a woman in her home in eastern Mosul, police said.