23 Iraqis killed in funeral suicide bombing

BAGHDAD: At least 23 mourners were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite family wake on Monday northeast of the Iraqi capital, police and security sources said.   

"A man wearing a suicide belt walked into the Shiite wake and just blew himself up," said Captain Ahmed Abdallah of the police in Khalis, 80 kilometres northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province.   

He said that 23 people were killed and 17 wounded, revising an earlier casualty toll.   

A defence ministry official in Baghdad confirmed the report.   

Diyala province has been riven by savage Sunni-Shiite sectarian fighting, making it the most dangerous province in the country after the capital Baghdad.