At least 21 people have been killed and 27 wounded in a car bomb attack at a market in Baghdad.
The blast occurred in the mostly Shi'ite Abu Dshir general market in the capital's southern district of Dura.
The area has seen frequent violence in recent months between rival Sunni and Shi'ite factions.
A suicide blast yesterday on a bus in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad left 12 people dead, which along with several less bloody attacks has ended a recent lull in violence.
Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has urged Iraqi leaders to put aside sectarian interests and form a government of national unity.
Mr Straw is on an unannounced visit to Iraq, his third in three months.
The comments by Mr Straw come as ethnic and religious factions continue to debate the makeup of an Iraqi government following the Shi'ite victory in December's general elections.
Negotiations have faltered in recent weeks due to splits within and between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish groups.
Despite the visit of the British Foreign Secretary, Shi'ite leader and incumbent Prime Minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, has insisted that the setting up of a cabinet should be an 'internal Iraqi affair'.
Rumsfeld says US continues to pay for positive press
US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said he was mistaken when he stated last week that the US military had stopped paying Iraqi newspapers to publish pro-American articles.
Mr Rumsfeld had said in a television interview that the US had ceased paying to place positive stories in Iraqi media after criticism in the US Congress and press.
He told a Pentagon briefing today that he had 'just misstated the facts'. He said military command in Iraq 'has sought non-traditional means to provide accurate information to the Iraqi people'.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the military command in Iraq was still paying to plant positive stories, even as US officials investigate the practice.
US lawmakers have said the practice could undermine US credibility as officials try to foster democratic institutions in Iraq and tout its emerging free press.
