KIRKUK, Iraq, June 20 (Reuters) - The death toll from a suicide truck bombing on Saturday near a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in northern Iraq rose to 20 killed, a police source said.

The source told Reuters that 80 people had also been wounded by the explosion near the city of Kirkuk, and that the blast had flattened about 20 homes in the area.

Violence has dropped sharply across Iraq in the past year. But insurgents including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda still launch deadly attacks on U.S. forces, Iraqi police and civilians in a bid to trigger renewed sectarian bloodshed and undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. (Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jon Boyle)

AlertNet news is provided by