A suicide bombing at the funeral of the son of a tribal leader and anti al-Qaeda militiaman killed 12 people and wounded 25 others in Baquba on Sunday, officials said.

The funeral of Mudher al-Shallal al-Araki, killed in a roadside bombing near his family's home in the Iraqi city, on Saturday evening, was underway when an explosion ocurred as the procession of relatives passed.

Araki had been a fighter in the Sahwa, the militia formed of Sunni tribesmen that, from late 2006 sided with U.S. forces against their co-religionists in al-Qaeda.

Baquba is the capital of confessionally-mixed Diyala province, which remains one of the least stable areas in the country and regularly suffers deadly violence.