A suicide bomber blew himself up among soldiers and civilians celebrating Iraq's national Army Day holiday in central Baghdad today, killing nine people in the latest in an upsurge of suicide attacks.
The bomber struck as an elderly man was placing flowers into the barrels of three Iraqi soldiers' rifles. He and the soldiers were among the casualties. Minutes before the blast soldiers had been dancing and chanting "Where is terrorism now?"
The attack was the worst in a series of bombings in the capital. Police said three people were killed in the northern district of Qahira when a car bomb blew up outside a restaurant. One person was killed in three blasts in central Nahda.
Three bombs exploded outside two Christian churches and a nuns' convent in the city of Mosul in the northern province of Nineveh, where US commanders say al Qaeda is regrouping. Police said four people were wounded in the blasts.
While overall levels of violence in Iraq are down, US military figures show that suicide bomb attacks have increased slightly since reaching a low in October.
Witnesses said the suicide bomber, wearing an explosives vest, tried to gain access to the offices of the Iraqi Unity Gathering, a non-governmental group hosting an Army Day event for army officers, most of whom attended in civilian clothes.
Tribal leaders from both of Iraq's religious sects and clerics also attended the ceremony, marking the 87th anniversary of the formation of the first Iraqi army regiment, held in a house in a residential neighbourhood in Karrada district.
Reuters television footage showed a group of soldiers dancing in a tight circle in the street, waving their AK-47 assault rifles in the air and chanting "Where is terrorism today?" just minutes before the bomber struck.