By PATRICK QUINN By Patrick Quinn The Associated Press BAGHDAD A car bomb left at least 14 people dead in the capital on Friday while U.S. troops chasing extremists in one of their last remaining bastions in central Iraq said they killed five al-Qaida gunmen.

Iraqi troops unearthed a mass grave with the remains of 12 people including a paramedic who disappeared more than a year ago, officials said Monday, the latest grisly discovery in a former stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

BAGHDAD _ The largest Sunni bloc walked out of Iraq's parliament Saturday to protest the purported house arrest of its leader, deepening the political crisis that has paralyzed Iraq's government and prevented progress toward the Bush administration goal of national reconciliation.

The arrest of two members of a prominent Sunni family is escalating tension within the Iraqi leadership, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

BAGHDAD _ A key leader in the tribal rebellion in Anbar province against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday by a bomb that had been planted near his home in the provincial capital of Ramadi, Iraqi police said.