MOSUL, Iraq, Friday (AFP) Forty-seven Iraqis were killed and more than 80 wounded in a suicide bombing at a Shiite funeral in the northern city of Mosul, hospitals said here.

The bomber struck Thursday as mourners flocked into a hall next to the Sadreen mosque, where a service was being held for Hisham al-Araji, the Mosul representative for radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.

"Many people were killed or wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the hall where the funeral service was being held," said one witness.

Local television asked people to give blood while the local Sunni Muslim leadership urged calm. Mosul is Iraq's third-largest city: Sunni Muslim Arabs make up about half of its 1.5 million population, while the rest are divided among Kurds, Turkmen, Shiites, Christians and other groups. The city has been gripped by violence since November when the police force unravelled following insurgent attacks.

The attack came as the Shiite political alliance, which swept the January 30 election, was putting the final touches on a deal with the Kurds to form a coalition ahead of the new parliament's first session next Wednesday.