BAGHDAD, 8 May 2006 — Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq yesterday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest spasms of violence of recent weeks as political leaders closed in on a deal to form a national unity government.

At least 21 people were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a car on a crowded street in Kerbala, south of Baghdad, police and doctors said. The effect was devastating.

Around the same time, two cars exploded in the capital. A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi Army patrol in the rebellious, mainly Sunni northern district of Adhamiya, killing eight people and wounding 15. Soldiers and civilians were among the casualties.

Iraqi and US forces had conducted a sweep for Sunni guerrillas in Adhamiya on Saturday, the US military said.

A second car bomb exploded at a busy intersection close to the offices of a government-funded newspaper in northern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding five.

In Kerbala, the police chief told a news conference only two people had died in the bombing. But police and hospital officials who declined to be named stood by their casualty figures and said rescue work was continuing four hours later.

The blast decimated crowds going about their business at the start of the working week, close to a partially built Shiite mosque and 500 meters from the main bus station. A dozen other vehicles burned out as a result of the explosion.

Nuri Al-Maliki, the Shiite nominated as prime minister two weeks ago after months of stalemate following December’s elections, says he expects to name a Cabinet shortly.

Representatives of the majority Shiites, Kurds, Sunnis and others were meeting again yesterday. On Saturday, the Shiite vice president said he expected a deal “in the next few days.”

Many party leaders were in the Kurdish capital Arbil yesterday, for the inauguration of a new regional government there.