A car bomb has killed at least 26 people and wounded 70 others outside a Shi'ite mosque near the Iraqi city of Baquba.
Officials said Wednesday the bomb went off in a market close to the mosque in the town of Howaider. Elsewhere in Iraq Wednesday, explosions killed three U.S. soldiers and four Iraqis.
Meanwhile, Iraqi parliament speaker Adnan Pachachi said the body will meet for the first time in a month next Monday to try to break a deadlock over who will be the next prime minister.
Kurdish and Sunni politicians have rejected the Shi'ite candidate - current Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. They say he has done little to stop sectarian violence in Iraq.
Also Wednesday, Arab League foreign ministers issued a statement in support of Iraq after a Cairo meeting boycotted by the government in Baghdad.
Iraq stayed away from the talks to protest Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's remarks that Shi'ites are more loyal to Iran than their own countries.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
