Dozens dead in Iraq bombings

A car bomb has gone off in a crowd of people outside a courthouse in Diyala province, 60km north of Baghdad, killing at least 40 people and wounding 80, according to Iraqi officials.

Women and children were present "when a car bomb exploded outside the main courthouse in Baquba at around 11.30am 0830 GMT]," a police official said on Tuesday.

Medical officials said many of the dead were charred beyond recognition and people were crowding the local hospital trying to identify the remains of relatives.

An Al Jazeera cameraman at the scene said that the suicide car bomber drove his vehicle through at least one military checkpoint before detonating the explosives.
Diyala has been one of the main battle grounds between Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda fighters in recent months.

Al-Qaeda regrouped in northern provinces such as Diyala after being pushed out from western Anbar province and Baghdad.

Diyala also forms a part of the so-called Sunni Triangle, a termed created by the US military. The area is a stronghold for Sunni anti-government fighters.

Al Jazeera's Owen Fay, reporting from Baghdad, said that with this attack, the Iraqi government is in the midst of battling more fighters.

"The government now has to focus on both Sunni and Shia fighters, amid a situation where they are already struggling to secure regions of the country," he said.