(dpa) - At least 45 people were killed and 27 wounded Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated himself in a funeral procession in a village north of the Iraqi capital, police sources said.
A police officer told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt targeting a funeral procession in Abu Mohamed village, some 70 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Sources said that the suicide bomber is a member of the Awakening Council, saying that earlier, two other members were killed in the same village.
The Awakening Councils are local police squads located mainly in Sunni Iraqi provinces and aim at fighting the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Police said that the death toll is expected to rise, as most of the wounded were in critical condition.