A suicide bomber has killed 22 mourners at a funeral west of Baghdad attended by Sunni Arab tribesmen opposed to al-Qaeda.

Forty people were left injured by the bombing yesterday in the village of Abu Munasir in Anbar province, once the centre of the Sunni Arab insurgency before US forces regained control in late 2006 and early 2007 with the help of local Sunni Arab tribesmen who decided to turn against al-Qaeda.

In another attack bearing the hallmarks of the Sunni Arab militants, a teenage girl bomber killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded up to seven others in an explosion against an Iraqi army position south of the capital.

It was unclear whether the girl detonated the explosives attached to her body herself or they were set off remotely.

A US military spokesman said that the attacker appeared to be in her late teens, about 16 or 18. US and Iraqi commanders accuse al-Qaeda in Iraq of dispatching female suicide bombers because they are not searched at checkpoints, where male officers typically stand guard.

The atrocities happened as Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, travelled north to oversee a new offensive against al-Qaeda.

Determined to pursue the insurgent group, which is loosely linked with the network of Osama bin Laden, the Prime Minister swept into the northern city of Mosul to supervise a new Iraqi-led operation that was begun at the weekend.

The trip by Mr Maliki is reminiscent of a journey that the prime minister made to Basra almost two months ago to begin an operation against Shia militias in the southern Iraqi port city. That battle, which got off to a shaky start, has produced results, with Iraqi soldiers and police now in control of the vital oil hub.

In contrast to Basra, a stronghold for the al-Mahdi Army loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric, Mosul is described by US commanders as the last urban stronghold for Sunni Arab al-Qaeda.

The US military believes that the hardline militants were pushed north by a surge of American troops into Baghdad and the surrounding belts last year.

"Operation Umm al-Rabiain [Mother of Two Springs] has just started against those threatening the civilian population and attacking Iraqi forces in Mosul," an Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman said. More than 500 people have already been arrested.

As with Basra, the US military is providing the Iraqi security forces with air cover, logistics support and intelligence.

"The operation is conducted and led by Iraqi security forces, but we have a significant contribution to that," Major-General Kevin Bergner said in Baghdad.

Inside the city, shops were closed and streets were empty, residents said. People have been stockpiling food in recent weeks in preparation for a big offensive.

Earlier in the year, Mr Maliki announced plans for a “decisive battle” against al-Qaeda in Mosul, but no significant push has taken place until now. US and Iraqi forces had instead been setting up joint outposts throughout the city to give them a greater and more permanent presence on the ground.

Back in Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers and police are preparing to push deeper into Sadr City in an ambitious move that could either bring order to the notorious Baghdad Shia slum or create an even deadlier battlefield.

Commanders have been meeting to work out a plan of action, while residents inside the impoverished district of some two million brace themselves for the worst.

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