http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060514/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraqBAGHDAD, Iraq - A string of deadly attacks ripped through the Iraqi capital Sunday, killing at least 26 people and wounding nearly 70, police said. Six small Shiite shrines also were damaged in a series of blasts around Baqouba, a mixed Sunni Arab-Shiite region where sectarian tensions are running high.
Other attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed 15 people, including two British soldiers who were killed in a roadside bombing Saturday night.
Baghdad's deadliest attack Sunday involved two suicide car bombs that exploded near a main checkpoint on a four-lane road leading to the international airport, killing at least 14 Iraqis and wounding six. The other 12 Iraqis were killed by four roadside bombs, three targeting Iraqi police patrols and one that exploded in an open market.
The surge of violence occurred as Iraq's parliament met in Baghdad, and Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki met privately with politicians to try to form a Cabinet for a new national unity government — one the Americans hope can help reduce sectarian violence and one day make it possible for U.S. forces to withdraw.