Blast kills 50 at Iraqi funeral

A suicide bomber has struck at a funeral in northern Iraq, killing at least 50 mourners and wounding around 55 people, police have said.

Police said the bomber detonated a suicide vest after entering the funeral tent in a Sunni Arab village near the town of Adhaim in Diyala province, south of the oil city of Kirkuk.

Survivers said the funeral had been for two members of a US-backed neighbourhood security unit who were killed on Wednesday.

The units, called Concerned Local Citizens by the US military, have been credited with helping to bring down violence in Iraq.

Wounded mourner Ali Khalaf, who was taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Tuz Khurmato for treatment, said: "Suddenly a fireball filled the funeral tent. I fell to the ground. I saw bodies scattered everywhere."

Outside a hospital in the northern city of Kirkuk, where pickup trucks took many of the bodies, frantic relatives gathered to look for their loves ones. Several women wearing black robes sat on the ground, wailing.

Northern Iraq has seen an upsurge in bombings this week, including one that killed 40 people in the town of Baquba, capital of Diyala province, on Tuesday.

During a trip to Brussels on Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said his country is "near to announcing victory over the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda".

Elsewhere, fighting in Baghdad has been dominated by weeks of clashes between gunmen and security forces in the Shia slum of Sadr City, stronghold of the anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Fresh battles erupted overnight, officials said.

US military spokesman Major Mark Cheadle said five gunmen had been killed in the early hours in three separate incidents, including an airstrike.

Hospitals in Sadr City said they had received nine bodies and 36 wounded after clashes and air strikes.

Most US troops in Iraq are deployed in Sunni Arab areas, which have become quieter in the past year after a "surge" in US forces. But troop levels are being cut. By July, 20,000 U.S. soldiers will have left Iraq, bringing numbers to 140,000.

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