Death toll rises to 25 in Iraq´s suicide attack

A man wounded in a suicide bombing in Jalulu, 125 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, is helped by medics at a hospital in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, Monday, March 23, 2009.

Among the casualties are officials and tribal leaders, and some of the injured were transferred to Kurdish regional hospitals because of the limited capacity of the local hospitals, the source said.

It was unknown whether Hameed Khudadai, head of PUK in Jalwlaa, was at the funeral when the incident occurred, the source said.

PUK is one of the two major parties in the Kurdish semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Jalwlaa is part of a disputed area near the Kurdish region border, which the Kurds want to annex to their region.

Diyala province, which stretches from eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has been the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq network and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Editor:Shi Taoyang