A truck bomb exploded during rush hour today on a busy commercial street in northern Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding about two dozen, Iraqi police and health officials said.

Iraq’s prime minister called a crisis conference in a bid to reach open a dialogue tomorrow among Iraq’s divided factions, to shore up his shaky government and unstick the stalled political process.

US and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically-sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.