Car bombs killed at least 10 people in Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, in two separate attacks that underlined the security challenge facing Iraq's still incomplete government.
A bomb aimed at Iraqi police commandos killed five civilians and wounded seven police in the new Baghdad district.
It was one of a number of attacks across the country, including another car bomb that exploded in Shia east Baghdad at a busy time late in the afternoon killing at least five people and wounding 13 at a square and traffic intersection.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is trying to fill the interior and defence ministry posts to complete a government announced last week, told Iraqi television he expects to submit the names to parliament on Saturday.
Political sources said the main Shia and Sunni Arab alliances had been exchanging names of their candidates. The Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front denied media reports that the new culture minister from their bloc had already quit.
Maliki, a tough-talking Shia Islamist, has vowed to use "maximum force" to wipe out Sunni insurgents fighting to topple Iraq's US-backed leaders. He has also opened a door to negotiations with those willing to join the political process.
Maliki will be hard-pressed to convince Iraqis that he can make quick progress in the fight against guerrillas comprised mostly of Saddam Hussein loyalists and al Qaeda militants led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.