BAQUBA - At least 20 people were killed in a car bombing near a Shiite mosque in a restive area of Iraq late Wednesday, the latest in a wave of sectarian attacks plaguing the country.
At least 40 other people were wounded when the bomb went off in a busy market street as worshippers were leaving the mosque in the town of Howaider, near Baquba, 60 kilometers (36 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
"The car full of explosives was parked close to the mosque and those killed were worshippers who were leaving the sanctuary after evening prayers," a defence ministry official said.
Sectarian violence has engulfed the country since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February, leaving hundreds of people dead and raising warnings that the country was in the throes of civil war.
The attack was similar to a bombing last Friday when three suicide bombers, two dressed as women, blew themselves up near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad after weekly prayers, in the deadliest attack this year on Iraq's dominant majority Shiite community.
Wednesday's strike came after parliament announced it would convene next week in a bid to break months of deadlock on the formation of a new government, blocked by disputes over the fate of Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
In a sign the impasse could be nearing an end, speaker Adnan Pachachi told reporters that parliament was set to meet April 17, marking only the second time the body has met in the four months since a landmark election in December.
"There are signs that there will be agreement on all problems concerning formation of the government," Pachachi said.
The new parliament was inaugurated on March 16 but swiftly adjourned amid little sign of a deal on a government of national unity.
A key bone of contention has been the candidacy of Jaafari, who has continued to defy mounting pressure even from some Shiite allies to withdraw.
Kurds and Sunni Arabs cite his inability to curb sectarian violence that has raged since the Samarra bombing, leaving hundreds of people dead in tit-for-tat killings.
Shiite leaders from the dominant United Iraqi Alliance, who broke off talks on Tuesday after failing to reach a decision on Jaafari, cancelled another meeting Wednesday.
"The meeting has been cancelled to allow more time for the alliance to discuss within themselves the issue of Jaafari," said Bassem Sharif, spokesman of alliance member the Fadhila Party. "They will now meet on Thursday."
Asked if parliament will vote on Jaafari's fate, Pachachi said his candidacy still neededapproval from the presidential council.
Iraq's constitution stipulates that the appointment of the prime minister needs to be sealed by a three-member presidential council which lawmakers have yet to appoint.
Jaafari, a conservative religious Shiite, has refused to budge, saying only parliament could now decide his fate.
"I have a principle that I will accept what our people decide," he said Tuesday.
The dominant UIA, which won 128 out of 275 parliament seats in the December election, chose Jaafari by a single vote in February.
In another possible power struggle, Sunni leaders demanded that the next president be an Arab to replace current Kurdish head of state Jalal Talabani.
"The post of Iraq's president should go to an Arab personality and the Shiite alliance agrees with our opinion," said Ayad al-Samarrai, a senior leader of the Sunni-led National Concord Front.
Meanwhile, Iraq's interior minister admitted that so-called death-squads existed within certain security forces but denied any link with his own ministry.
Bayan Jabr Solagh, in an interview with the BBC, pointed the finger at special security forces that provide protection for ministries and key installations, as well as the myriad private security companies in Iraq.
"We have to make clear that there are some forces out of order, not under our control and not under the control of the ministry of defence," he said.
The recent upsurge of sectarian violence in Iraq is often blamed by Sunnis on militias wearing uniforms belonging to the security forces.
"Terrorists or someone who supports the terrorists... are using the clothes of the police or the military," Solagh said.
Wednesday's mosque attack brought to 38 the number of people killed across Iraq in a series of bombings, security officials said.
The US military also announced the deaths of nine servicemen in the last four days, including three on Wednesday. This takes the total death toll of US military personnel in Iraq since the invasion to 2,364, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.

04/12/2006 18:18 GMT