Car Bomb Kills 37 at Baghdad Funeral

A car bomb ripped through a funeral tent in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad today, killing at least 37 people, including four children and three women. The car, which exploded around 2pm, had been parked with the vehicles of other mourners, several yards away from the tent, so it wouldn't raise suspicion, police said. Several other cars were set afire and the force of the blast damaged nearby houses. Another 78 were wounded, say police and hospital officials.

It was the deadliest of a series of bombings to occur today: The director general of Baghdad's central electricity directorate, Ismaeel al-Obeidi, escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb struck the two-vehicle convoy carrying him to work, officials said. One of his guards was killed. Two other Iraqis died in sporadic bombings targeting Iraqi troops. The blasts were the latest in more than a week of bombings that have killed more than 200 people. (More Iraq stories.)