Funeral bombing, other attacks in Iraq kill 62

Iraqi officials say the death toll from a bombing at a funeral in a Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad today has risen to 51.
Police officials say the attack early this evening involved a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives-laden car near mourners gathered in a funeral tent in the Iraqi capital's Sadr City neighbourhood, as well as a second blast caused by suicide bomber on foot.
The officials say women and children are among the dead, and that at least 70 people are wounded.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.

The assault followed attacks elsewhere earlier in the day that killed 11.
The funeral attack happened hours after insurgents launched a suicide attack on a police headquarters in the city of Beiji, killing seven policemen and wounding 21 others.

In that attack, police said four suicide bombers stormed a base for police commandos. Guards managed to kill one suicide bomber, but the three other bombers were able to set off their explosive belts inside the compound, police said.
Beiji, a centre for oil refining, is 250 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The police said that most of the members of the commando unit were not in the compound at the time of the attack because they were carrying out a security operation outside the city. Casualty figures would have been higher had they been inside, the police said.

In other violence, gunmen shot and killed two prison guards after storming their houses in a village near the city of Mosul early today. Also in Mosul, two soldiers were killed and four others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy. Mosul, 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, is a former militant stronghold.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the day's attacks. Al-Qaeda's local franchise in Iraq frequently targets Shiite civilians and security forces in an attempt to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
More than 4,000 people have been killed between April and August, UN figures show. More than 400 have been killed so far in September, according to an Associated Press tally.