Iraq is still without its first full-term post-Saddam Hussein government more than four months after elections.
On Tuesday two Iraqis were killed as rebels bombed a minibus in central Baghdad's Shorjah market in an attack that also wounded five others, an interior ministry official said.
In the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Bayaa, a roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded four, while an Iraqi private security guard was shot dead near the restive city of Baquba, just north of the capital.
Also west of Baquba, gunmen attacked a family traveling in a car, police said. One man was killed and two others were wounded in the attack.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks in and around Baquba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) from Baghdad. Last week they staged massive attacks on checkpoints in a bid to seize control of the city.
The US military announced the death of a soldier, killed on Monday south of Baghdad, after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, the most common but the deadliest weapon used by insurgents against coalition troops.
The latest casualty took to 2,403 the death toll for US servicemen in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
Even as rebel violence continued, evidence of fresh sectarian killings surfaced after police recovered six bullet-riddled bodies across the country.
They were the latest victims of a spate of extra-judicial killings that have torn Iraq amid mounting sectarian tensions this year.
Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders were holding discussions on forming the country's long awaited national unity government.
Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs and the majority Shias were seen sorting out differences over ministerial berths and on the crucial post of a deputy prime minister.
The Sunni Arabs were to retain one of the two deputy premier posts after Shia leaders dropped plans to offer it to the secularist Shia former premier Ayad Allawi, a Sunni spokesman said.
"The Shias are supporting us for one of the deputy prime minister posts," said Zhafer Al Ani, spokesman for the main Sunni parliamentary bloc, the National Concord Front.
The Front holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament.
The Shia United Iraqi Alliance, which is to lead the new government, had last week floated the idea of giving the position to pro-Western Allawi, resulting in strong Sunni opposition.
Ani had insisted that the minority community needed to be given the job if the sting was to be taken out of the insurgency raging in Sunni areas.
"All troubles in Iraq are in Sunni areas, so it is important to have a Sunni deputy prime minister," he said last week.
The Kurds hold the other post of deputy premier in the outgoing government and are expected to retain it in a new one.
On Tuesday Ani declined to be drawn on the progress of talks on other positions in the new government, but said that there would be agreements soon.
Shia negotiators also voiced optimism about the progress of the coalition talks on Monday but said that further discussions would be needed on Tuesday to work out the details.
Leaders of the Kurdish alliance were also meeting on Tuesday in Kurdistan's Salaheddin province to discuss their demands.
"We will officially announce our demands today," said Fuad Hussein, a senior official with the Kurdish Democratic Party, one of the alliance parties.
Prime minister designate Nuri Al Maliki has said that he expects to complete his cabinet lineup by May 10 after talks with Kurdish as well as Sunni Arab representatives.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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