At least six people have been killed in a spate of violence across Iraq a day before the trial of former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was due to resume before a new judge.
Three people were killed and five others wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on a police patrol outside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.
An Iraqi policeman was killed and four others injured in a car bomb atttack in the southwest of the capital. Two more policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb in the north of the city.
Another suicide bomb attack was reported at a US-Iraqi checkpoint in the west of the city but there was no immediate word on casualties.
In southwest Baghdad, an official working for the Sunni religious endowment foundation was shot dead while leaving a mosque in southwest Baghdad.
In another shooting, a woman working as a cleaner at a US base near Tikrit was also killed.
Four civilians were wounded in a car bomb attack near a courthouse south of Baghdad, and five police were hurt in another bomb attack in the norhern city of Kirkuk.
Meanwhile, the US military also reported the deaths of two US airmen and one soldier in Iraq in the last 48 hours.
Separately, officials in Iraq say they have discovered the bodies of 23 police volunteers kidnapped last week. The men were found shot dead on open land north of Baghdad.
They were part of a group of around 50 men who were abducted last Monday as they travelled home to the city of Samarra after failing to be accepted into a police training school.
New judge for Saddam Hussein trial
Meanwhile, the court trying Saddam Hussein has appointed a new judge to preside over the next session, starting tomorrow.
'The tribunal met today and decided that Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman will head the court,' said court spokesman Raid Jouhi.
The court has been in turmoil since Kurdish Chief Judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, resigned earlier this month in protest against political pressure to speed up the trial and stop Saddam Hussein's courtroom speeches.
