Car Bombs Kill 10, Wound Nearly 80 in Iraq

Iraqis survey the scene of a car bomb explosion from their apartment building Monday April 24, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. Six car bombs exploded in the capital Monday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, as politicians met to try to finalize a new Cabinet, and police discovered bodies of 20 Iraqis _ apparent victims of sectarian killings that the U.S. hopes the new government can end.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hato) (Mohammed Hato - AP)

Many Sunni Arabs believe militia members have infiltrated the ranks of the police and army and have been responsible for kidnapping and killing Sunni civilians. U.S. and British officials have insisted Cabinet members who have security responsibilities have no ties to militias.

Much of the attention has focused on the Shiite-run Interior Ministry, which controls police and paramilitary commandos widely distrusted by Sunnis. Shiite officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks are under way, said they expect Interior Minister Bayan Jabr to be replaced by Shiite independent Qassim Dawoud, who has no militia links.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has said Iraq's next government must decommission sectarian militias, terming them the "infrastructure for civil war."

In a statement Monday, a government agency said more than 5,600 Shiite families comprising nearly 34,000 people have fled their homes in mainly Sunni regions of Baghdad and central Iraq because of violence.

The list appeared to be the number of families who had fled to date, but did not say when the movements began. Reports of large numbers of Shiites leaving Sunni regions began amid increased sectarian violence sparked by the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

The families fled from the mainly Sunni district of Abu Ghraib in Baghdad; cities north and west of the capital, including Baqouba, Beiji, Taji and Samarra; and mixed districts south of Baghdad in a region known as the "triangle of death" for their frequent insurgent attacks.

The U.S. military confirmed Monday that a woman was killed last week while making a bomb attack on a U.S. military vehicle last week in the northern city of Tal Afar. Only a few such attacks by women are known to have occurred in Iraq.

The Stars and Stripes newspaper previously said a U.S. soldier and two Iraqi troopers were injured in the blast Thursday.