A car bomb went off in a street market in the mainly Shi'ite Iraqi town of Khalis on Thursday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 25 others, police and hospital officials said. The town is located some 80 km north of Baghdad. Elsewhere, gunmen have killed 7 people in an attack on the home of a pro-government Sunni militia leader in the northeast. The attack was carried out early Thursday in Buhriz.
The attacks were reported as the Iraqi government was hosting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and staging a major ceremony to mark the end of the American military presence in the country. Biden arrived in Baghdad late on Tuesday and in meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders praised a "new phase in relations" between the two countries.
