Another Iraqi Blast Kills Dozens

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car near a funeral procession in southeastern Baghdad today, killing at least 28 people in the latest brazen attack since the US troop withdrawal. Police officials said the blast occurred at 11am in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah, where mourners had gathered for the funeral of a person killed the day before. They said 61 people were wounded.

Yesterday, 17 people died in bombings around the country, including seven people in attacks on Baghdad's two predominantly Sunni districts. Across Iraq, at least 200 people have been killed in a wave of attacks since the beginning of the year, raising concerns that the surge in violence and an escalating political crisis might deteriorate into a civil war, just weeks after the US military withdrawal. Most of the dead have been Shiite pilgrims and members of the Iraqi security forces. (More Baghdad stories.)