A suicide car bombing killed at least 33 people and wounded another 35 in a village in central Iraq.
The blast occurred in the village of Yathreb near Balad, about 75km north of Baghdad.
'It was a suicide car bomber. The attack took place at 4.30 pm when the market was very busy,' a police spokesperson said.
He said people were reported missing after the explosion, which caused havoc in the market and brought down buildings. Some bodies were thought buried beneath the rubble.
The blast came hours before US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Baghdad to assess recent security gains and discuss troop levels.
Salaheddin province is one of the focuses of a major sweep against al-Qaeda in Iraq launched by US and Iraqi forces on 8 January.
