At least 34 people have been killed in a double suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq, police and medics say.

They say about 60 people were injured when two bombers detonated their explosive vests in the town of Tal Afar, near Mosul.

The attack are the deadliest since the withdrawal last week of US combat troops from Iraqi towns and cities.

In Baghdad, at least seven people were killed and nearly 20 injured in two bomb explosions in Sadr City.

‘Judge targeted’

The attacks in Tal Afar, a mostly Shia town, happened early in the morning and in quick succession.

First, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest. The second blast followed as people gathered at the scene of the first explosion.

There are fears that the death toll will rise further, police say.

The target appears to have been the home of a local judge, the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says.

This area of northern Iraq is rapidly becoming Iraq’s most dangerous region, our correspondent says.

On Wednesday, two explosions near Shia mosques in Mosul killed at least nine people and wounded many more.

In Baghdad’s Sadr City, a Shia area of the Iraqi capital, two roadside bombs exploded in a market, killing at least seven people.

The bombs were reportedly placed in rubbish piles in the area.

US combat troops pulled out from Iraqi towns and cities last week.

US President Barack Obama has described the handover to Iraqis as a milestone, warning that the country’s leaders would face “hard choices” on security and politics.

The withdrawal came ahead of the full departure of US forces by 2012.

Source BBC NEWS