Updated at 8:45 p.m. EDT, July 9, 2010
Attacks in the capital abated today, but one significant attack in western Baghdad left numerous casualties. At least eight Iraqis were killed and 27 more were wounded there and in other towns just north of the capital.
Iraqiya party leader, Ayad Allawi, said that negotiations between the political parties are in their final stages and hopes that the new government will be formed in August. Iraq was crippled after March elections gave no clear mandate to any party, but Iraqiya received the most seats.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-paced car, killing six people and wounding 20 more in the Ghazaliya/Amiriya area. Three people were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Adil.
A bomb attached to a civilian car in Dujail exploded near a police patrol, injuring two policemen and the driver.
A soldier was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Taji.
Gunmen killed two cops in Mosul.
An imam in Tikrit was arrested for spraypainting Saddam’s name on his mosque. Saddam, who was born nearby, built the mosque and the imam felt he deserved the credit.
