In Iraq, insurgents struck at police and military targets in a series of morning attacks that have left at least 60 people dead and more than a hundred others injured. One suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-packed vehicle in a crowded civilian market.
An explosion in deposed president Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, killed mostly civilians, after guards prevented the bomber from driving into a police station. Thwarted in his initial plan, the suicide attacker swerved his vehicle into a small local market.
The attack continues a wave of intensified insurgent activity since the formation of Iraq's new government, nearly two weeks ago.
Elsewhere, in western Iraq, another suicide bomber attacked an army recruiting center in Hawija, a heavily Sunni Arab town in the southwest of Kirkuk Province, inflicting heavy casualties among new recruits.
The attacks came as American and Iraqi forces, supported by U.S. air power, continued an offensive against insurgent bases in Iraq's western desert, along the Syrian border.