The death toll from a car bomb attack on the funeral of a Shi'ite sheikh rose to at least 50 from 35, doctors said on Sunday, as the number killed in a spate of attacks over the past two days rose to 150.

Another 75 people were wounded when the bomber blew up his vehicle near a crowded condolence tent at the tribal sheikh's funeral on Saturday in Abu Sayda, a small town near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Medical officials in Baquba, who asked not to be identified, said many victims were badly mutilated, making identification difficult.

Baquba police Lieutenant-Colonel Sabah Salih said he saw bodies scattered in the street and the blood of victims mingled with large pots of food that had been made for mourners.

The attack at the funeral capped a bloody two days in Iraq during which six U.S. troops were also killed.

On Saturday, another car bomber killed 13 people and wounded 20 more in an attack on a busy market in the Diyala Bridge area just south of Baghdad.

Five soldiers were killed in two makeshift bomb attacks on a patrol in the northern town of Baiji on Saturday.

The U.S. military said on Sunday a Marine was killed on Saturday in a bomb attack near Haditha, about 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Anbar.

Increasingly sophisticated makeshift roadside bombs -- known by the U.S. military as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- are now the biggest killer of U.S. forces in Iraq, accounting for almost 40 percent of deaths.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been conducting operations against Sunni Arab guerrillas throughout western Iraq in recent weeks in an effort to stem the resistance before the elections.

U.S. President George W. Bush has vowed not to withdraw from Iraq until victory is complete and has rejected critics' calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of the 135,000 U.S. troops.

PHOTO CAPTION

People gather at the site where a suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners killing at least 36 people, in Abu Saida, near Baqouba, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005. (AP)