MOSUL, Iraq, (Reuters) – Two suicide bombers killed 17 people and wounded 26 in northern Iraq on Thursday, police said, in the latest of a spate of attacks in the volatile region.

Two men entered a crowded cafe in Sinjar, whose inhabitants are from the minority Yazidi sect, and detonated explosive vests.

The town is near the restive city of Mosul, which has seen a series of high-profile bombings in the past fortnight.

The U.S. military said on Tuesday that al Qaeda has shown itself to be resilient in northern Iraq with a string of deadly bombings there.

Insurgents have been able to hide out in Mosul’s remote and mountainous areas.

Bombings and shootings are reported almost daily in and around Mosul, the capital of the northern province of Nineveh, where insurgents have exploited disputes between Arabs and Kurds even though their influence has waned elsewhere in Iraq.