The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Baquba

Twin suicide blasts ripped through a wedding party in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 66, an Iraqi army officer said.

The suicide bombers blew themselves up at Balad Ruz, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad in the restive province of Diyala in a street where guests were gathering on the traditional day for weddings.

The bombers detonated their explosive vests in quick succession, said Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie, head of the provincial military command. "The first bomber blew himself up amid a crowd of people. Minutes later another bomber blew himself up as people were trying to rescue the victims of the first attack."

Witness Ibrahim Hassan, 26, who was among the wounded, said he fell unconscious and later found himself in hospital in the provincial capital Baquba. "The first blast happened in front of an ice cream shop. A lot of people ran to help the wounded, but two minutes later another bomber blew himself up in the crowd," Hassan told AFP.

Confessionally mixed Diyala province is one of the most dangerous regions of Iraq where US and Iraqi forces are battling Al-Qaeda jihadists.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb blew up in central Baghdad as a US military patrol passed, killing at least nine people, including an American soldier, and wounding 21, security officials said. A US armoured car was badly damaged in the bombing, witnesses said.

The bombings came as Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr refused talks with Iraqi members of parliament visiting neighbouring Iran in a bid to end clashes between government troops and his militiamen.

"Moqtada al-Sadr did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation," said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, his spokesman in the central shrine city of Najaf.

"Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through a parliamentary initiative backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani." Obeidi did not elaborate, but Talabani has been holding talks with Sadr's supporters in a bid to resolve the crisis.

Earlier, Obeidi said that Iraqi Shiite MPs had travelled to Iran for talks with Sadr, in the first acknowledgement of longstanding US assertions that the cleric was in Iran. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed the delegation was in the country but declined to be drawn as to the whereabouts of Sadr.

"This delegation came to Tehran in the framework of efforts to settle the differences and end the clashes in Iraq," Hosseini told AFP. "The discussions are still under way."

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the visit by the Iraqi delegation was a "healthy" step and aimed at "in essence forcing them to make a choice: do they want to work with the government of Iraq or are they going to subvert the government of Iraq."