Iraq's acting parliament speaker says he will convene the legislature Monday in an effort to push forward the formation of a national unity government.
Adnan Pachachi, who is a Sunni Arab, says he hopes Shi'ite leaders will have resolved the deadlock over their candidate for prime minister by then.
Kurdish and Sunni politicians have rejected the Shi'ite candidate for the post - current Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
In violence Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed two American soldiers in Baghdad. Another bomb killed a third U.S. soldier east of the city.
And a blast in Baghdad's Waziriya district killed a policeman and three civilians. North of the capital, car bombs killed several people in Tal Afar and Khalis.
Separately, the trial of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was adjourned after handwriting experts scheduled to testify during Wednesday's session failed to show up in the Baghdad court.
Meanwhile, Iraq is staying away from an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, in a protest against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's recent remarks that most Shi'ites in Arab nations are more loyal to Iran than to their home countries. Mr. Mubarak also contends that Iraq is already in a state of civil war - a conflict that he says could destabilize the entire region.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.