Bombs kill 34 in Iraq as Gates visits Baghdad

By Andrew Gray

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three bomb attacks killed 34 people and wounded dozens more in Iraq on Monday, underscoring the security challenges facing the next U.S. military commander in the country.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who earlier arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit, said Lieutenant-General Ray Odierno must find ways to keep improving security while American troop levels are falling.

Gates will preside over a ceremony on Tuesday to hand command of U.S.-led forces in Iraq to Odierno from General David Petraeus, whose term was marked by a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops and big falls in violence.

In the deadliest attack on Monday, a female suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded 33 at a dinner celebration attended by police officers in Diyala province, police said.

Police said the officers were breaking the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad. The dead included the town's police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammed Ashraf and ten other policemen.

And in the capital, two car bombs exploded in quick succession, killing 12 people and wounding 37.

Despite an increase in deadly attacks in the past few days, overall levels of violence in Iraq are at four-year lows.

Gates said the areas in which U.S. forces would be engaged in Iraq would continue to narrow.