Five blasts in Iraq, including at least four suicide bombings, killed at least 12 people Saturday as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated the holiest day of the year. The attacks came one day after a string of bombings killed at least 36 people.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Amid increased security, Shiite Muslims in Iraq marked their holiest day of the year on Saturday, one day after a wave of bloody attacks killed 36 people in the deadliest violence to hit this insurgent-wracked nation since the Jan. 30 national elections.

Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims won nearly half the votes in the nation's landmark Jan. 30 election, giving the long-oppressed group significant power but not enough to form a government on its own.

WASHINGTON - Iraq's security forces are still far from reaching U.S. goals in numbers and capabilities, but American military commanders insist they are gaining ground in training and equipping these units. Iraq had some 125,000 trained security and military personnel as of Jan.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen killed eight Iraqi National Guard soldiers at a checkpoint in central Iraq on Monday, and eight people died in a suicide car bombing at a police station north of Baghdad, as insurgents struck at Iraqi security forces ahead of national elections.