At least eight people died across Iraq. Six Iraqis were killed and 46 more wounded in a pair of bombings at a bus stop in Baghdad during morning rush hour. The attacks took place as commuters were waiting at a bus stop in the capital's largely Shiite northeastern neighbourhood of Al-Qahera.
A medic told AFP at Al-Kindi hospital said three of the dead were Iraqi troops. In the city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, unidentified gunmen killed two civilians in separate attacks.
A woman working in the media office of Baquba police headquarters was shot dead in the central Tahrir neighbourhood of the city, police said. In another incident, gunmen stormed a shop in the centre of the city and shot dead its owner.
Police also found overnight Wednesday 19 bodies of men shot dead in Baghdad. Another body of a civilian, shot in the head, was found in Suweira, south of the capital, police said.
Meanwhile, Britain will deploy 360 extra troops to Iraq later this year to reinforce its 7,200-strong force in the southern city of Basra, a military spokesman said. The reinforcements will intensify the British presence at a time when their main unit is being replaced with another, Major Charlie Burbridge told AFP. "When two brigades swap over, it's a period of organised chaos -- I think that's probably the best way to describe it -- and there's a requirement for operations to continue," Burbridge said.
