A suicide bomber killed 20 people and wounded more than 60 at a crowded market in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk today, police said.
The bomber walked up to people shopping at the market, close to a major bank branch, in the centre of the ethnically mixed city, police said.
Police and passers-by struggled to help the wounded and load the bloodied bodies of the dead onto pick-up trucks.
Wrecked cars lay on the street and the windows of buildings around the marketplace, including the bank, were shattered.
Some witnesses said they believed the bomber targeted a police patrol that was passing; others said he had mingled with people queueing outside the bank.
Near Baquba, northwest of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed five Iraqi soldiers when he attacked a patrol in Kenaan, 20 kilometres east of the town today, police said.
Insurgents also hit Kenaan police station with mortars, setting it on fire, police said.