BOMB attacks in the Iraqi capital and a village near the northern town of Baquba have killed at least 75 people.

In the deadliest incident, a bomb blew up in a funeral tent where mourners were marking the death on Monday of a Sunni Muslim pro-government militiaman, killing 18 people and wounding 16 in Shatub, near Baquba.

Seven bombs went off across Baghdad, killing 40 people and wounding 88, said police and medics said. A car bomb in Dujail, a Shi'ite town 30 miles north of Baghdad, killed three people and wounded seven.

The army is locked in a standoff with Sunni militants who overran Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad, more than two weeks ago in a challenge to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.

Mr Maliki said: "The battle will be long and will continue."