Bomb attacks are still common across Iraq in the wake of the US-led invasion [AFP]

The bomb, which had been planted on a motorcycle, detonated in a crowded market in the town of Khalis on Sunday afternoon, officials said.

An Iraqi police officer in charge of leading security operations in the town was among those hurt, Dr Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan, a staff member at Khalis hospital, said.

There are frequent bomb attacks in Diyala despite recent improvements in security elsewhere in Iraq.

Hospital attack

The attack in Diyala came hours after a female suicide bomber launched an attack in front of a hospital near the city of Falluja in Anbar province.

A woman, a doctor and his wife were killed, with another seven people wounded, doctors said.

The western province of Anbar was a focus for Sunni Muslim resistance groups fighting against US-led forces in the wake of the March 2003 invasion.

Also on Sunday, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others wounded by a roadside bomb which targeted an army patrol in the northern city of Mosul.

The attack came on the same day that a car bomb against a police patrol in Mosul wounded 11 people, including five civilians, according to police.

Although there has been a reduction in fighting across Iraq in recent months, certain areas of the country still experience regular attacks, with most of them carried out against US and Iraqi security forces.

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