Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    BAGHDAD, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up on Tuesday near a school in the city of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province in northern Iraq, killing a student and wounding 21 people, police said.

    A suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt in the morning near a marketplace and the entrance of the al-Jawahiri secondary school in central the city of Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    A student was killed and 21 people were injured, including five female teachers and four students, the source said.

    Four of the wounded were in critical conditions, he said.

    Earlier, an Interior Ministry source named the secondary school, al-Mutatawra, saying the bomber targeted the entrance of the school and wounded 21 people.

    In the past few days, insurgents launched a series of suicide bomb attacks across Iraq that claimed the lives of dozens of people.

    On Monday, the death toll from another suicide bomb attack at a funeral at the village of Hajaj in Salahudin province in northern Iraq rose to 17, with up to 20 others wounded.

    Also on Monday, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car into an Iraqi army patrol near the northern city of Mosul, killing two civilians and wounding nine people, including five soldiers.

    Despite a pickup in security over the past several months, the U.S. military warned that al-Qaida members are regrouping and still capable of staging high-profile attacks.