IRAQ:Suicide bombers killed 29 people in Baghdad yesterday, after a meeting of officials of world powers, Iraq and neighbouring states agreed it was vital to all to stop sectarian violence spreading across the region.
A car bomber attacked a lorry carrying Shia pilgrims in central Baghdad, killing 19 people and wounding 25, police said.
The pilgrims had been returning from the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, where millions gathered over the weekend for a major Shia ritual despite attacks by suspected Sunni Arab insurgents that have killed scores.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus, killing 10 people and wounding eight, in northeastern Baghdad near the Shia militia stronghold Sadr City police said.
Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki urged regional and world powers at a conference in Baghdad on Saturday to do all that was within their combined abilities to help end sectarian violence which threatens to plunge Iraq into all-out civil war and spread throughout the region.
Saturday's meeting was a rare opportunity for Washington and its adversaries Tehran and Damascus to sit together at the same table.
Washington accuses Syria and Shia, non-Arab Iran of supporting militants in Iraq
This is a charge they deny.