Gunmen seized 10 workers from a bakery today in a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad, while a car bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed one woman and wounded 19 other people, police said.

Two bombs aimed at police patrols exploded today in Baghdad as a series of attacks killed at least 24 people nationwide, while insurgent groups offered condolences for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and warned they would continue his campaign of violence.

A mortar barrage killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 40 in southern Baghdad today, police said.

A bomb in a parked car exploded today near a busy bus station in Baghdad, killing at least four civilians and wounding seven others, police said.

Coalition forces backed by a helicopter and jets attacked a safe house being used by suspected foreign insurgents in Iraq, killing 12 militants and a woman, the US military said today.

Seven car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital Baghdad today, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, as politicians met to try to finalise a new Cabinet.