More than 50 dead in Iraq

A suicide bomber killed 32 mourners and injured dozens at a funeral for the nephew of a Shiite politician, one of several attacks today across Iraq that killed a total of 53 people - making it the deadliest day since the December 15 elections.

The increased violence came as Iraq's three major political parties were close to forming a coalition government that would include Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, according to a Shiite politician.

Iraq's election commission also planned to release the results of its investigation into almost 2,000 complaints stemming from last month's parliamentary elections, commission member Safwat Rashid said.

More than 100 mourners were standing in a cemetery in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, for the burial of a nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka when the bomber struck, the Diyala provincial police said. The cemetery was strewn with body parts and the tombstones were stained with blood.

At least 32 people were killed and 42 injured, said Dr. Firas al-Nida of the Muqdadiyah hospital.

Al-Bakka had survived an assassination attempt Tuesday that killed his nephew.

Al-Bakka is the head of the local Dawa party, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and a main partner in the country's largest Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance.

Shiites have been targeted by extremist Sunni groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A senior official in the Dawa party said such attacks are meant to exert pressure on the United Iraqi Alliance to accept a less optimal compromise in the formation of the government.

"We expect attacks to increase before the formation of the government," Ali al-Adib said.

Insurgents attacked a convoy of 60 tanker trucks with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, destroying three of the tankers and damaging 15 others, said police Lt. Abdul Zahra Qassim. Three Iraqi army vehicles, which had been guarding the convoy, were also destroyed in the attack about 25 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

Tanker truck drivers stopped transporting petrol from Iraq's largest refinery in Beiji on December 18 because of security concerns. The drivers began transporting fuel again this week after being promised increased security.

In other violence today, a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Baghdad's southern Dora district, killing seven people and wounding 15, police said.

The bomb, which damaged several shops and nearby vehicles, targeted a police patrol near the market at the time, said police Capt. Firras Giti.

Another car bomb in northern Baghdad killed three civilians and a policeman, and wounded 13, said Maj. Mosa Abdelkareem.

A roadside bomb targeting a US patrol in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, hit a civilian car instead, killing three passengers, said police Col. Polla Mohammed.

In the capital, gunmen in separate incidents killed a former army captain and fired on the car of an oil ministry employee, killing the man and his son, police said.

Gunmen in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, attacked the political offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, killing a civilian, Dr. Bahaldin al-Bakri said. A roadside bomb in Baqouba killed a woman, the Diyala police said.

In Aziziyah, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad, gunmen fired on a police patrol, killing one policeman, Hadi al-Itabi of the Kut morgue said. Gunmen in Ramadi killed a professor at Anbar University, Mohammed Al-Ani from the Ramadi hospital said.

Roadblocks went up across Baghdad as police searched for the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who was kidnapped yesterday. Gunmen killed one of her bodyguards and seriously wounded another in the abduction.

A description of the suspects' car had been distributed to all checkpoints, said Lt. Thair Mahmoud.