Attacks killed at least 20 Iraqis and wounded dozens Sunday as Iraq's new national unity government met for the first time.
The attacks all occurred in Baghdad. In the deadliest strike, a bomb ripped through a crowded restaurant popular with police on Sunday, killing at least 13 people, police said. According to Reuters, at last 18 people were injured in the blast at the Safar restaurant in central Baghdad, police said, citing initial reports.
Earlier, two separate bomb attacks in other parts of Baghdad killed a total of six people and wounded dozens. One of the bombs exploded at about 10:30 a.m. in a crowded fruit market in New Baghdad in an eastern part of the capital, said police Lt. Ali Abbas. Police found the first bomb and detonated it after trying to evacuate the market, said Abbas. But a second hidden bomb went off a moment later, killing three civilians and injuring 23, all of whom had ignored the evacuation order, Abbas said.
At about 8 a.m., four gunmen in a speeding BMW killed Ali Abdul-Hussein al-Kinani, 57, who was standing outside his food store in the neighborhood of Ubaidi, said police Maj. Mahir Hamad Moussa.
In southwestern Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed its target - a police patrol - but wounded five civilians at 8 a.m., in the neighborhood of Sadiyah, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein, according to the AP.
Three other attacks took place Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent areas. Mortar rounds hit two separate houses, killing a 4-year-old girl and wounding her mother in one dwelling, and injuring a man and his son in the other, police said. A roadside bomb narrowly missed a U.S. convoy but wounded three civilians.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced Sunday his government will form a new security force to protect Baghdad. He vowed to use the new force to strike "terrorism," and announced that appointing ministers of defense and interior will be within the two days.
The new security force includes members who are well experienced and qualified. They will fully be supported by the government.
