A car bomb at a market in the central Iraqi city of Khales killed at least 23 people and wounded 55 others on Friday, Diyala province's security command said.
The attack came at around 7:30 pm (1630 GMT) in the city 65 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad, according to
an official at Baquba operations command.
The latest violence came as political wrangling over the outcome of Iraq's March 7 election rumbles on, with no bloc having yet assembled the parliamentary majority necessary to form a government.
Friday's attack was the deadliest to hit Iraq since May 14, when a double bombing at an unprotected football match in the north of the country killed 25 people and wounded 120.
Khales itself was last struck with a major attack on March 26, when twin bombings in front of a cafe and a restaurant in the city killed 42 people and wounded 65 others.