Deadly bombing kills 16 mourners at Sunni funeral in Iraq

A bomb killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others at a Sunni funeral in Baghdad, Iraqi medics and authorities say.  

Police officials said the Sunday evening attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a tent where a Sunni funeral was being held in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Dora.

The bombing comes just a day after a suicide attack killed 78 at a Shia funeral in Baghdad's Sadr City, a mostly Shia neighborhood on the east side of the city. The latest assaults provide further evidence of spiralling sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia groups.  

Also Sunday, two bombings - including another suicide attack - left two security force members dead and 37 people wounded in the country's north.

In the first attack, Kirkuk Police Brig. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Qadir said a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a residential area in the city of Kirkuk, wounding 35 people.

The bomber targeted both a Kurdish educational office and an adjacent house for a Christian lawmaker, Qadir said. Seven members of the lawmaker's family were wounded in the attack.

Kirkuk is home to an ethnic mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area.

Hours after the suicide bombing, police said a roadside bomb struck a security convoy near the northern city of Mosul, killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Acting U.N. envoy in Iraq Gyorgy Busztin condemned the Saturday attack in Sadr city, and renewed calls to the Iraqi government and politicians to take strong measures to curb violence. He called for restraint among Iraqi groups in face of the increasing attacks.

"Retaliation can only bring more violence and it is the responsibility of all leaders to take strong action not to let violence escalate further," according to a statement issued by Busztin on Sunday.

Two hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures for both attacks.  

Attacks have spiked in Iraq during the past few months. More than 4,000 people have been killed in violence between April and August, a level of bloodshed not seen since the country was on the brink of civil war in 2008.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press