A top Iraqi Interior Ministry official shot dead today was one of eight people killed in a series of car bombs and assassinations.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot Mr Mussab al-Awadi, a senior official in charge of tribal affairs, as he left his house, an Interior Ministry source said. Two bodyguards were also killed.
The US military said a suicide car bomb exploded outside an American base near the northern city of Mosul, killing an Iraqi woman, her child and an Iraqi guard. Three US soldiers and two Iraqi security staff were wounded.
Two further attacks where launched in the Iraqi capital - one person was injured by mortar fire, and car bomb exploded without causing injury.
In the south of the country, gunmen opened fire on five women who work as cleaners for US firm Bechtel in the British-secured city of Basra, killing two and wounding two others.
Doctors treat a wounded Iraqi woman after she was shot by insurgents in Iraq's southern city of Basra
The women were waiting for a bus to take them to work when they were attacked.
A bomb also exploded under a car in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, wounding several people, police said.
The surge of attacks poses a further security challenge to the interim government ahead of a major political gathering expected this week. But Iraq has said it will push ahead later this week with a national conference aiming to give Iraqis a say in how their country is run.
The United Nations has pushed for a delay, saying more time is needed to prepare for an event that will bring together 1,000 Iraqis from across the country to select a 100-member National Council to oversee the interim government until elections next year.
It is due to kick off on July 28th and will last two or possibly three days, officials have said.
Two Jordanian drivers were today abducted and threatened with death if their employer fails to leave the country within 72 hours. The group calling itself the Mujahedeen Corps called on the Jordanian company to cease co-operating with US forces in Iraq .
In a video, the two drivers were seated on the floor and behind them stood six masked militants, carrying a variety of weapons, including a sword. The two men said they were being treated well and made a plea to the company to comply with the demands.
Kidnappers elsewhere have extended a deadline for talks on the release of seven foreign truck drivers from a Kuwaiti company.
The hostages - three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian - were seized last week by a little-known group calling itself the "Black Banners" brigade of the Islamic Secret Army.
In a videotape, a masked group member men read a statement behind the kneeling hostages, who were dressed in white smocks.
Agencies