The Iraqi government imposed a curfew in Baghdad today after Shia and Sunni militias clashed with each other and with Iraqi and US forces on a day of violence which has claimed an estimated 34 lives across the country.
Twelve people were reported dead and 20 were wounded when a bomb went off outside a Sunni mosque in the village of Hibhib, north of Baghdad, where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this month.
In the UK-controlled southern city of Basra, at least 10 people were reported killed and 18 were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle near a petrol station.
North of Baghdad, authorities found the bodies of five government employees abducted two days ago. They had been shot dead. Masked gunmen seized more than 60 staff of state-owned factories on Wednesday on Baghdad's northern outskirts.
Five people were reported killed when fighting broke out in west Baghdad between militiamen loyal to Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and Sunni Arab gunmen. Al-Sadr's men were reportedly escorting worshippers to prayers to commemorate 11 people killed in a suicide bombing last week.
The government imposed a curfew on vehicle and pedestrian traffic from 2:00 pm (1000 Irish time) until 6:00 am (0200 Irish time) on Saturday.
The outbreak of violence in Baghdad came despite a major security operation involving 60,000 Iraqi and US personnel in the capital.
Elsewhere, two US soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle southeast of the capital. The US military also said two soldiers died in combat in separate attacks in the Anbar province over the last two days.
The US military released about 500 prisoners from the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad under an Iraqi government "national reconciliation" drive to free a total of 2,500 inmates. Most prisoners have been held without charges and are members of the Sunni minority, which forms the backbone of Iraq's insurgency.
Agencies