Toll from blast in Mosul reaches 50, says US

MOSUL, IRAQ - The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on the funeral of a respected Shi'ite professor in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has reached 50, with nearly 80 wounded, the US military said on Friday.

The suicide bomber walked into a large crowd at the funeral in a tent at the mosque compound on Thursday evening and then detonated an explosive belt in the latest attack on the newly empowered majority that was oppressed under Saddam Hussein.

Doctors said the toll could rise further, and added that several children who had been at the funeral were missing.

The mainly Sunni Arab insurgents fighting to overthrow Iraq's US-backed government have mounted frequent attacks on Shi'ites. Shi'ite leaders say the attacks are an attempt to provoke sectarian civil war, and have told their followers not to seek revenge.

An alliance of mainly Shi'ite Islamist groups won more than half the seats in Iraq's new parliament in the Jan. 30 elections, and is poised to appoint Ibrahim Jaafari, currently one of the country's vice presidents, as prime minister.

Sunni Arabs have hardly any representation at all in parliament -- very few people voted in Sunni Arab areas due to fears of unrest and calls for a boycott of the election by several leading Sunni parties.

Shi'ite leaders insist they will reach out to Sunni Arabs and bring them into the political process to prevent sectarian rifts in Iraq from widening.

- REUTERS