Bombings across Iraq killed 44 people today, striking at police and Shiite pilgrims in a torrent of violence that officials had dreaded in the run-up to a meeting in Baghdad of the Arab world’s top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation’s stability.

Twenty-eight people were killed and more than 100 others injured in bombings across Iraq today in a spate of violence that officials had dreaded in the days before Baghdad hosts the Arab world’s top leaders.