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

The vast majority of suicide attackers in Iraq are thought to be foreigners - mostly Saudis and other Gulf Arabs – and the trend has become more pronounced this year with North Africans also streaming in to carry out deadly missions, US and Iraqi officials say.

Wisam Younis’ sole ambition in life, he said, is to kill Americans. So he expressed surprise when he discovered that his car bomb had killed eight Iraqis and wounded more than 80 outside a Baghdad restaurant.