Iraqi Council Clears Key Legislation on Provincial Elections

In conversations in recent days, several Iraqis expressed some optimism that after five years of war, security was improving and salaries were increasing. But they also cited worry about the divided government and the lack of electricity, fuel and job opportunities.

"For five years now we have been living a long night, but we still hope the sun will rise again on Iraq," said Omar Waleed, 45, post office worker in Samarra, north of Baghdad. "We hope the presence of American forces will continue, not because they have achieved anything, but if they left, we shall find ourselves face to face with the Iranian giant, which wants to purge Iraq of its Arab citizens."

Husenain Abdul Zahra, 27, a local government employee in the southern city of Najaf, said life is "better than before."

"The salaries are much more and we can buy everything we need. Today we are better off than yesterday, and next year will be even better," he said.

But many Iraqis still express deep resentment toward the U.S. government for the past five violent years. "I want the United States to take us back to the days of Saddam Hussein, so we can have peace and security," said Nusayef Jassem, 62, a retired engineer from Samarra.

Despite recent improvements in security, high-profile acts of violence continued Wednesday in various parts of the country.

In an early morning attack in the eastern province of Diyala, a woman wearing an explosive vest blew herself up near a local market in Balad Ruz, killing five people and wounding 15, including two policemen, according to a military spokesman.

U.S. forces raided an area in Buhriz, south of Baqubah, Diyala's capital, capturing three Iraqis suspected of being part of a bomb-making cell, according to Maj. Mike Garcia, a U.S. military spokesman in Diyala.

In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi general said a suicide attacker detonated a vehicle carrying explosives near the headquarters of an Iraqi army company. Fourteen people were injured, including 11 Iraqi soldiers, the general said.

In Kirkuk, also in the north, two policemen were killed and three others were hurt when a roadside bomb detonated in the downtown area.

Interior Ministry officials reported that a roadside bomb in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killed two men and wounded four. A second roadside bomb in the city killed two policemen and wounded 12 others.

Correspondent Joshua Partlow in Baghdad and special correspondents Zaid Sabah, Naseer Nouri and Dalya Hassan in Baghdad, Dlovan Brwari in Mosul, Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Mohanned Saif Aldin in Samarra and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.