Baghdad - Terrorist attacks again struck Iraq on Saturday as two explosions in different parts of the country killed more than ten people and left scores injured. In Baghdad, five people were killed, and 20 others wounded when a car bomb went off near the National Theater in the al-Karada neighborhood, police said.
Earlier, a car bomb left at least nine people dead and 28 injured in the northern Iraqi town of Tall Afar, 60 kilometres west of Mosul, police told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.
On the political front, the 37-member Iraqi cabinet was scheduled to meet later on Saturday to review the final version of a security pact with the United States, al-Arabiya news network reported.
The pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), would establish a legal basis for the presence of US soldiers in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at end of this year.
According to al-Arabiya, Iraqi Transport Minister Amir Abdul- Jabbar said the draft could be put to cabinet vote in an emergency meeting either Sunday or Monday.
If adopted by the cabinet, it would then require parliamentary approval.
Saturday's cabinet meeting comes hours after the three-member Iraqi presidential council discussed the issue earlier in the day.
The presidential council includes President Galal Talabani and his two vice presidents Tarik al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi
The United States last week responded to Iraqi demands for changes in the text, which US officials described as final and said it was up to the Iraqis to push the process further.
Al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president, however said Saturday that the United States made "additional modifications" to the agreement in response to a request by Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, according to Talabani's office.
According to press reports Iraq has demanded the removal of any language from the text that might allow US troops to remain in Iraqi cities past December 31, 2011, and specifying that US military personnel be held accountable for crimes they commit off duty as well as having to request permission from the Iraqi government to search homes.
