At least 44 people have been killed in a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
In the northeast of the capital, 15 people were killed and four wounded when militants opened fire on a bus.
The victims were civilian employees of a Shia organisation that oversees religious sites and mosques.
A short time later, three car bombs exploded in the Shia neighbourhood of Bayaa, leaving 15 dead and 35 wounded.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber drove his car into a crowd of recruits at a national police academy in northern Baghdad, killing seven and wounding 12.
Iraq's security forces, which consist largely of Shia recruits, are a frequent target of Sunni insurgents.
In other violence, a roadside bomb exploded next to an Iraqi army patrol, killing two soldiers in the Sunni west Baghdad district of Yarmuk.
Three people were killed when a car bomb hit a marketplace in Amil in southwest Baghdad, while mortars slammed into the mixed neighbourhood of al-Qahira, killing two children.
Iraqi leader calls for talks with Iran, Syria
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Saleh, has said both his government and the US have to talk to Iran and Syria if they are to deal with growing violence in the country.
Mr Saleh said that Iraq had depended too much on Washington and had forgotten its neighbours.
Earlier, the leader of the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, told the US President, George W Bush, that he is opposed to any foreign move to solve Iraq's problems that bypasses the Iraqi government.
In a meeting in Washington with Mr Bush, Mr Hakim, one of the principal Shia leaders, said Iraqis should resolve problems by themselves, although he added that he believed US troops should remain in the country.
Mr Bush's government is engaged in a reappraisal of its strategy in Iraq; the Iraq Study Group is due to report its findings today, which may include recommending talks with Syria and Iran.
Mr Bush later reaffirmed his support for the Iraqi government.
