A relative mourns for a victim of the bomb attack in Muqdadiyah

More than 50 people have been killed in a wave of attacks in Baghdad and cities north of the Iraqi capital, in the worst violence to hit the country since before the December 15 parliamentary elections.

The deadliest attack Wednesday was about 100 kilometers northeast of Baghdad in Muqdadiyah. A suicide bomber struck during a Shi'ite funeral, detonating his explosives at the graveside, killing at least 36 mourners and injuring dozens more.

In southern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded, killing at least seven people. Elsewhere, authorities reported the deaths of at least a dozen other people in separate incidents.

Meanwhile, police say insurgents attacked a convoy of 60 oil tankers north of Baghdad, destroying at least four of them.

On the political front, Kurdish leaders said they have reached a deal with a key Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Accordance Front to form a broad-based government. Kurdish and Shi'ite leaders met last week for similar talks.