An Ebb Proves No Respite In Violent Summer in Iraq

A man tries to salvage items after his shop was destroyed in an explosion in Kirkuk. On a comparatively quiet day across Iraq, seven people died and 18 were hurt when a car bomb exploded in front of an ice cream shop in the city. (By Yahya Ahmed -- Associated Press)

"We consider this to be a dangerous sign," a ministry spokesman, Sattar Nowruz, told the Reuters news agency.

Northern Iraq was the scene of two of Thursday's grisliest bombings.

In Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, a crowd had gathered around a car that contained a corpse when a bomb exploded, killing 13 people, including three police officers, according to police Capt. Ahmed al-Qaisi.

And in Kirkuk, 160 miles north of the capital, a car bomb targeting a police patrol blew up in front of Ishtar, one of the city's best-known ice cream shops. The explosion, which killed seven people and wounded 18, occurred at 8:10 p.m., said police Col. Taha Salah al-Din. Most of the casualties were civilians enjoying a cool treat at the end of a hot day.

The relentless violence has elicited calls for peace this week from a wide range of Iraqi, U.S. and international leaders. On Thursday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Shiite cleric who commands the largest following of any figure in Iraq, called on all Iraqis "to be aware of the danger threatening their nation's future and stand shoulder-to-shoulder in confronting it."

In a statement issued by his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, the reclusive Sistani said the bloodshed could be ended only by "abandoning hatred and violence and replacing it with love and peaceful dialogue to solve all problems and differences."

Special correspondents Naseer Mehdawi, Naseer Nouri and Saad al-Izzi contributed to this report.