Car bomb north of Baghdad kills 30

BAQUBA: A car bombing near a cafe in a packed market killed at least 30 people and wounded 40 others in a town northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi officials said.

The blast struck in Saadiyah, a town in restive ethnically-mixed Diyala province, according to a police colonel and a doctor, both speaking on condition of anonymity.

It went off at about noon (0900 GMT) in the market for groceries, the officials said.

The attack struck a day after violence across Iraq, including a spate of bombings in Baghdad, killed 59 people and left more than 100 wounded, the latest in a protracted surge in violence nationwide.

The rise in unrest just months before general elections has forced Iraq to appeal for international help in combatting the country’s deadliest militancy since 2008.