Baghdad  - A bomber walked into a large group of mourners gathered for a funeral in the Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday evening and detonated the explosives strapped to his body, killing "many" and injuring "many more," police told an Iraqi news agency.

A police officer told the Baghdad-based Voices of Iraq news agency that it was not immediately clear how many died or were wounded in the attack in central Jalawla, roughly 200 kilometres north of Baghdad. "But," he said, "the death toll will likely be high because of the strength of the blast."

It was the fourth deadly bombing targeting Sunnis in central Iraq that day. Monday began with a bomb attack on Sheikh Imad al-Halbusi's family home in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. At least eight people, including two children, were killed in that attack, and nine were wounded.

Sheikh Imad had been the head of the local "Awakening Council," the grouping of the Sunni tribe members who have joined with Iraqi and US forces to fight Sunni insurgents in exchange for training, funding, and weapons.

Hours later, twin bombs exploded in a crowded market in Abu Ghraib, some 25 kilometres west of Baghdad. At least 10 people died in those blasts, and 11 were injured, police official Shakir Faza, told German Press Agency dpa.

"Most of the casualties were from the Awakening Councils," Faza said.

"The city is going through a perilous phase because of escalating disputes between political groups," Namir Adil, a representative on Abu Ghraib's provincial council, told dpa. "These attacks aim to scupper any reconciliation between the people of the city."

Omar Abdel-Sattar al-Qaruli, a member of parliament with the Iraqi Islamic Party, an offshoot of Iraq's Muslim Brotherhood, likewise said the attacks were a response to the government's recent efforts to reconcile the country after years of sectarian violence.

"The groups that want violence in Iraq ... do not want the national reconciliation to succeed," al-Qaruli said. "Perhaps the security situation will continue to deteriorate this year and next year. The groups who benefit from this situation do not want international forces to leave." (dpa)