Attacks Wednesday across Iraq killed at least 53 people.
In the deadliest attacks, a suicide bomber killed at least 32 30 people and injured scores of others during a Shi'ite funeral at Miqdadiya, 100 km northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi security official said. According Reuters, the funeral was for a victim or victims of an assassination attempt on Tuesday on a local leader of the Dawa party of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. More than 100 mourners were standing in a cemetery at the time of the explosion, the AP reported.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomb killed at least three people on Wednesday when two police cars were targeted as they traveled through Baghdad, according to Iraqi security forces. Another 13 people, all of whom were reportedly civilians, were wounded in the attack.
A third car bomb also exploded on Wednesday in the city of Karbalah in southern Iraq. Four vehicles were damaged in the incident, and three people wounded, according to Reuters. Another car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Baghdad's southern Dora district, killing seven people and wounding 15, police said.
A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, hit a civilian car, killing three passengers, said police Col. Polla Mohammed.
Though some religious ceremonies have been targeted on occassion by attackers, such attacks are rare in Karbalah, considered a holy city for Iraq's Shi'ite community.
In Baghdad, though, the car bomb came amid heightened security after the sister of a controversial Shiite interior minister was abducted.
In response to the abduction, Iraqi security forces closed two bridges over the River Tigris, cutting off the militarized Green Zone which houses government buildings, from the city's center.
Checkpoints were also set up throughout the city, and traffic was stopped in some parts of the capital.
Also on Wednesday, an official in Iraq's Oil Ministry and his son were shot and killed when the car they were traveling was targeted by gunmen in Baghdad. The driver of the car was also wounded in the attack, according to Iraqi police reports.
West of Baghdad, Iraqi police reported the discovery of two bodies who has been bound, gagged and shot. The bodies were found in the town of Mahawil, 75 km west of the capital.
Iraqi authorities also reported that on Tuesday, the leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite political parties, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, was targeted by gunmen in Baghdad, killing two of his bodyguards. The men were attending a funeral in southern Baghdad at the time of the attack.
Amidst the violence, Iraqi leaders on Tuesday agreed to continue with efforts to form a broad coalition government which would include Iraq's rival ethnic and sectarian factions.
In the coming days, negotiations are expected to focus on power sharing between the groups.
Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani told reporters, "We have agreed on a national unity government," according to Reuters. He made the comments after meeting Iraq's Kurdish interim president Jalal Talabani and Sunni leaders from the Iraqi Accordance Front.
The discussions were held despite the protests of many Sunnis, who feel that the results of the nation's December 15 elections were fraudulent.
A team of foreign experts are expected to arrive this week in Iraq to investigate the matter.
