Five other people were killed in bombings and shootings outside Baghdad, adding to the more than 500 lives lost in the wave of sectarian violence since the February 22 bombing of the Shiite Al-Askariya Mosque in Samarra.

Around 10.45am on Saturday, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in Salman Pak, about 12 miles southeast of the capital, killing two people and wounding three others, including two police officers.

Northeast of Baghdad, before 1pm on Saturday, another bomb exploded in front of a music store in downtown Baquba, killing a girl and wounding eight other civilians.

Later on the day, three gunmen dressed as Iraqi soldiers opened fire at a Shiite Turkmen mosque in Kirkuk, killing two people and wounding another, police said. Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, critically wounding a soldier. The city, located about 150 miles north of Baghdad, is a diverse, tense city that is home to Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens who are Sunni and Shiite Muslim.

The violence coincided with the Baghdad visit of Gen. John Abizaid, the US Central Command chief of military operations in the Middle East. During meetings with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani, he appealed for a national unity government, saying it was imperative to bring the country together. And he urged Iraqi people to remain united.

In anther development, Kurdish, Sunni and secular politicians want the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which won the December 15 parliamentary election, to reconsider its choice of al-Jaafari to remain prime minister, citing poor performance. Iraq's parliament, known as the Council of Representatives, must hold its first session on March 12.

CNN