BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt martyred at least 21 people on Friday in a town north of Baghdad, shattering what had been weeks of relative calm, the town’s mayor said.

A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt martyred at least 21 people on Friday in a town north of Baghdad, shattering what had been weeks of relative calm, the town’s mayor said.

The suicide bomber blew himself up inside a popular cafe in the town of Balad Ruz, 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, said the town’s mayor, Mohammed Maaruf. An additional 65 people were injured, he said.

The neighborhood where the explosion occurred is home to many Faili Kurds, a small sect of ethnic Kurds following the Shia branch of Islam, and many of the dead were Shias.

Feyli Kurds are largely a Shiite community living in Baghdad and Iraq around Khanaqin and Mandili. There are an estimated 2-3 million Feylis living in Iraq.