Shiite lawmakers today chose Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head the new government, selecting the incumbent by a one-vote margin over Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Shiite officials said.

A bomb exploded alongside a group of Iraqi men waiting for work in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least eight and wounding more than 50.

Gunmen killed the wife and two sons of a Sunni Arab cleric north of Baghdad, while a baker was shot dead inside his bakery in the Iraqi capital, police said today.

Bomb blasts, shootings and rocket-propelled grenade attacks killed at least 13 people throughout Iraq, including a policeman’s four children, officials said today.