At least nine people were killed in three attacks in Iraq on Saturday, including a car bomb in a northern Iraq market that claimed six lives and wounded 50, police and security said.
The deadly blast in Tal Afar came at around 11 am (08H00 GMT) and targeted a busy market in Al-Wehda, a central area of the city about 450 kilometres (280 miles) north of Baghdad.
Among the wounded 20 in a serious condition were rushed to a hospital in the Kurdish province of Dohuk.
Tal Afar is predominantly Shiite and west of Mosul, the capital of the province of Nineveh that is said by the US military to be the "last urban bastion of al-Qaeda" in Iraq.
Described in 2006 by US President George W. Bush as a security model, Tal Afar has since March 2007 been one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq.