(Adds details, background)

BAGHDAD, Dec 7 (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 15 people in a town northeast of Baghdad on Friday, Iraqi police said.

Another 24 people were also wounded in the blast in the town of Muqdadiya, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in volatile Diyala province.

Police said the attack targeted members of the 1920s Revolutionary Brigades, a Sunni Islamist insurgency group which has recently begun working alongside security forces against al Qaeda.

Suicide bombings carried out by women are rare in Iraq.

A similar attack by a female suicide bomber wounded seven U.S. soldiers and five Iraqi civilians on Nov. 27 in Baquba, the provincial capital of ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala. U.S. commanders have identified Diyala as one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq after al Qaeda fighters were driven out of their former stronghold in the western province of Anbar and other areas of Iraq. (Writing by Alaa Shahine; Editing by Paul Tait)

AlertNet news is provided by