A car bomb exploded in a crowded market near the city of Baquba in Iraq's northern Diyala province last night, killing at least 15 people and wounding 26 others, police said.
Hospital and morgue sources in Baquba and nearby Muqdadiya, and a provincial government source, said the explosion had killed at least 30 and wounded another 40.
The blast, in the town of Abu Sayda, about 10 km (6 miles) east of Baquba, caused the partial collapse of a building, badly damaged four houses and set five cars ablaze, police said.
The wounded were rushed to a hospitals in Baquba, which is about 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, and Muqdadiya. Women and children were among the victims, police said.
Overall violence has dropped significantly in Iraq since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006-07 but bombings and shootings are still occur regularly. Tensions have been rising since a March 7 parliamentary election that produced no clear winner.
Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions have been jockeying for position in a coalition government and insurgents appear to be trying to take advantage of the political vacuum as the United States prepares to end combat operations formally by August 31.
The Baquba area has been struck by a series of bombings this week.
On Monday a car bomb in the parking lot of a Baquba cafe killed up to four people and wounded 15, hospital officials said.
On Tuesday, a car bomb exploded just west of the city, killing one person and wounding seven others, and two roadside bombs blew up near a police patrol east of the city, wounding 10 police officers.
"We had information that terrorists would make a series of car bomb attacks in Baquba and we took security precautions," said Major Ghalib al-Jubouri, a police spokesman in Diyala. "Because they couldn't set off their bomb in Baquba, they went to Abu Sayda."
Diyala, a mixed province with a Sunni majority located just north of Baghdad, has seen more violence in recent months than many other areas of Iraq.
Last week a bomb planted in a symbolic coffin carried by demonstrators blew up in the Diyala town of Khalis, wounding nine people.
Abu Sayda was hit by a deadly bombing in May 2007. A truck laden with canisters of lethal chlorine gas exploded in a market, killing more than 40 people.
Reuters