Market blasts and other bombings across Iraq killed at least 33 people and wounded nearly 100 today, spurring security officials to clamp down on traffic as Shiite Muslims brace for more tragedy during pilgrimages this week.

Gunmen tried to assassinate an investigative judge on the Iraqi Special Tribunal that is investigating Saddam Hussein and members of his regime, a spokesman for the court said today.

Australia’s prime minister hailed the rescue of countryman Douglas Wood from insurgents in Iraq as a miracle, and his family today said he was in high spirits.

At least 29 people have been killed and 18 others injured in a huge explosion in west Baghdad, police said today.

Gunmen ambushed an Associated Press driver today, riddling his car with bullets and killing him near his home in Baghdad.