8 killed in bomb attack in Iraq's Diyala

Eight people were killed and 22 others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Sunday, a provincial police source said.

 The attack occurred in the morning when a roadside bomb went off near dozens of mourners who were carrying the coffin of the son of a Sunni tribal leader in the town of Wajihiyah near Baquba, the provincial capital city of Diyala, some 65 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 Late on Saturday night, Mudhir al-Shallal, the tribal leader's son was killed by a bomb blast in his car in the town, the source said.

 Violence and sectarian tensions have been running high recently between Sunni and Shiite communities in the volatile province of Diyala, as Sunnis and Shiites accuse each other of supporting extremists and militiamen.

 Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the border in east of the country, has long been a volatile area since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite repeated military operations against the militant groups.