Calls emerged within the Shiite alliance Saturday for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to step down as the bloc's candidate for another term. This political development came as violence continued with gunmen attacking a minibus carrying Shiites northeast of Baghdad late Friday, killing six men and wounding one woman.
At least 18 other people were killed elsewhere, including three ice cream vendors and a butcher.
One prominent Shiite politician, former Minister of State for National Security Qassim Dawoud, openly called for al-Jaafari to withdraw his candidacy.
Shiite officials, according to the AP, said others within the Shiite alliance were open to replacing al-Jaafari. "There is a current (within the Shiite alliance) that is calling on the prime minister to withdraw his nomination because the political process has reached a deadlock," Dawoud told The Associated Press.
The Shiites were ambushed Friday night near Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, as they were returning home from visiting relatives, the town's mayor, Mohammed Maarouf, said.
Gunmen also killed three ice cream vendors in the capital's southern neighborhood of Dora, while a butcher and his son died and another son was injured in east Baghdad, police said.
In the western Iskan neighborhood, gunmen killed the owner of an air conditioner repair shop on his way to work. A Sunni sheikh was killed by gunmen in a speeding car when he left his home in the southern city of Basra. His brother, who was with him, was wounded, a Sunni official said.
Police reported the discovery of at least seven bodies, mostly young men who were shot in the head or strangled in Baghdad . Witnesses also told police they saw three gunmen in a BMW pull a handcuffed man out of the car and shoot him near a highway in west Baghdad.
West of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed three Iraqis, including a woman, in Amiriyah in Anbar province, the U.S. military said.
South of Baqouba, an Iraqi army sergeant major was killed Friday after his patrol surprised a group of gunmen trying to steal a dump truck, the U.S. military said.
Four of the gunmen died in the firefight, a statement said. Four Iraqi soldiers were also wounded.
