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BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 32 people when he blew himself up among mourners at a Shi'ite funeral north of Baghdad today, Iraqi police said.
The attack took place inside a crowded mourning tent in the town of Khalis in volatile Diyala province. More than 60 people had been wounded, police said.
Since US and Iraqi forces launched a security crackdown in Baghdad in February, militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda have increasingly focused their attacks outside the capital.
Residents said the funeral had been for the son of a Shi'ite family. The son had been killed by gunmen, they said.
Majed Mansour, a relative of the victim's family, said the traditional three-day mourning period was about to end and the family had just invited all those present to join in a meal before they left when the bomb exploded.
"The blast came from the centre of the tent. It killed many. There was thick smoke, bodies were everywhere. It was complete chaos," Mansour said.
Diyala, a religiously mixed area, has been the scene of fierce fighting between US troops and al Qaeda as well as Sunni Arab insurgents.
Last month, US commanders sent a force of armoured vehicles and 1,000 extra soldiers to the province.
The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said last week al Qaeda was bent on committing what he called "sensational" attacks designed to fuel more sectarian violence.
Five US soldiers were killed in Iraq over the weekend, raising the number killed this month to over 100 and making April one of the deadliest of the war for US forces.
The toll could increase the pressure on US President George W. Bush, who is fighting a plan by Democrats to set a timetable for withdrawing US forces from Iraq.
He has vowed to veto a war-spending bill from Democrats that requires combat troops to begin leaving by Oct 1. The Democrat-controlled Congress plans to send the bill to Bush on Tuesday.
The US military said three soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad on Sunday. A marine was killed in western Anbar province on Sunday.
Another soldier was killed by small arms fire in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the military said.
The security crackdown in Baghdad is seen as a final attempt to halt Iraq's plunge into all-out civil war between majority Shi'ites and once-dominant minority Sunni Arabs.
US commanders acknowledge that the offensive, which has led to the deployment of thousands of extra troops on the streets, has increased the risk of military casualties.
Before the announcement of the latest deaths, the independent www.icasualties.org website had put the number of US troops killed in Iraq in April at 99.
Some 3,350 US troops and many tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the US-led invasion in 2003.
April has also been a bad month for British forces, with 12 killed, the highest number in a month since March 2003, when 27 died in the opening days of the war.
British Defence Secretary Des Browne made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday. He met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, officials said. Browne also went to the southern city of Basra, base of the British forces in Iraq.
- REUTERS
