More than 220 Iraqis were killed and many were wounded during a wave of bombings and gunfights over the weekend, while three British soldiers were killed.

A senior military officer gave warning of further large-scale attacks as militant groups sought to undermine a United States-led plan to crack down on the violence.

A truck bomb exploded in a crowded market in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato on Saturday morning, killing up to 150 people and wounding 250. It was the second-most-deadly attack since the invasion by US and British forces in 2003. Relatives of the missing searched for bodies under the collapsed mud-brick walls of houses and shops yesterday.

US commanders have predicted an increase in so-called “spectacular attacks” as they implement their plan to tackle insurgents in and around Baghdad. President Bush has sent 28,000 extra troops to Iraq to help in the operation.

Iraq timeline: five years of conflict

From accusations that the weapons of mass destruction dossier had been sexed-up to withdrawal of British troops from Basra

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“We have been expecting an al-Qaeda push back in terms of trying to demonstrate to Congress that the ‘surge’ has failed,” said General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq.

The senior Western military officer, speaking under condition of anonymity, noted that al-Qaeda's ability to carry out large-scale bombings against Iraqis and the US-led coalition "is constrained by the ‘surge’. They are definitely under pressure.” Nonetheless, a suicide attacker rammed into a truck carrying new Iraqi army recruits yesterday, killing 23 and wounding 27. The recruits were Sunni Arabs from the western Anbar province who had joined Iraq’s security forces. The incident took place on a road near the town of Haswa, south of Baghdad.

A car bomb exploded in Karrada, a busy Shia area in central Baghdad, killing six people and wounding seven, and a couple of miles away a second car bomb killed two people.

It was also a bloody weekend for the British military in southern Iraq. Two soldiers were killed during an operation against militants who were thought to be responsible for recent attacks in Basra.

Lance Corporal Ryan Francis, 23, of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, was killed when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the Hay al-Mudhara district of Basra in the early hours of Saturday. A second soldier, of the 3 Regiment Royal MP, who was seriously injured in the same operation, died from his wounds. His next of kin have been informed.

Two other service personnel were injured as a thousand British troops fought back amid explosions and a heavy exchange of fire. Major David Gell, a British military spokesman, said that the operation was the largest of its kind in Basra this year. It resulted in a number of arrests and the discovery of arms and ammunition.

A third soldier, Rifleman Edward Vakabua, 23, of 4th Battalion The Rifles, died in an accident at the military base in central Basra on Friday.

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