Nearly 60 people have been killed in the latest violence in Iraq, including bombings at a busy market and a blast outside an army recruiting center.
The blast at the market in Baghdad killed 24 people and wounded 35 others on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, said Iraqi forces may be ready within a year to 18 months to take over the main responsibility for security.
In his comments in Baghdad, Casey said he thinks Iraqi forces will have progressed enough in that time and will need very little coalition support.
In other violence today, three people were killed in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk from a bomb that exploded on a minibus.
The U.S. military said an American Marine died of wounds sustained Tuesday during operations in western Al Anbar province.
The attacks took place despite an intensified security clampdown in Baghdad by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Other deadly attacks today include the gunning down in Baghdad of a Justice Ministry worker, Nadia Mohammed Hassan, her driver and a bodyguard.
Also in the Iraqi capital, gunmen shot and killed three textile workers, and a separate bomb attack killed at least two others.
Five bullet-riddled bodies were found south of the capital, in Suwaira. North of Baghdad, in Buhriz, five people were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.