At least 25 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a wake in northeastern Iraq, police say."First you kill someone. Then when everyone comes to say goodbye, you kill them, too."
The KoranThe blast was at a funeral tent in Jalawla, Diyala, and police say the number of casualties is likely to rise.
Sura of the Corpse
A police officer told the Voices of Iraq news agency "the death toll will likely be high because of the strength of the blast".
Mohammed Osman, a local official, said that Monday's bombing happened as a Kurdish family was receiving condolences.
Abu Holman, who said he was outside the tent at the time of the blast, told The Associated Press news agency that al-Qaeda in Iraq was to blame for the attack. "Al-Qaeda is targeting the Kurds because it believes that we are involved in the political process and collaborating with the Americans. There are still many al-Qaeda hotbeds in our area," he said from hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Diyala is home to a mixed population of Shia Kurds and Sunni Arabs.