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A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a dinner feast in western Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district on Sunday, killing 25 people, police said.



The attack, the biggest in weeks, took place at the home of a local sheikh who was holding the feast to celebrate the release of his son from U.S. detention, police said.



They said women and children were among the dead, as were some men believed to be members of U.S.-backed neighborhood patrols.



Police colonel Dawood Suleiman in the nearby city of Fallujah gave the initial death toll as 21. A police source in Baghdad who declined to give his name later said 25 had died and 32 were injured.



Abu Ghraib is a largely Sunni Arab district located between central Baghdad and Fallujah on the main highway heading west from the capital.



U.S. and Iraqi authorities say suicide bombings are the signature tactic of al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants, who frequently target other Sunnis since Sunni tribes turned against them over the past two years.



Iraq has become far less dangerous over the past year, but militants still retain the capability to conduct large-scaled bombings.

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