Baghdad - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit, media reports said.

Ban, whose visit comes a week after Iraq's historical provincial elections, met with President Jalal Talabani, Al-Arabiya news satellite channel reported.

A UN spokesman said Ban's visit was meant to reassure Baghdad about the UN's commitment to the country and to congratulate the Iraqi people on the success of provincial elections, Al-Arabiya reported.

Ban was expected to meet later with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose list prevailed in preliminary election results.

Baghdad  - A suicide bomber Thursday killed at least 15 people and wounded 13 in the northern Iraqi province of Diyala, according to a security source.

The source told the Voices of Iraq news agency that the bomber blew himself up inside a crowded restaurant in Khanaqin town.

"There are seven people severely wounded and more than 10 stores have been severely damaged, as have cars parked near the blast," the source added.

Baghdad  - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's list garnered 38 per cent of the votes in Baghdad in preliminary election results, Iraq's Independent Higher Electoral Commission said Thursday.

Results of Iraq's provincial elections revealed that al-Maliki's list had succeeded in overtaking the Shiite religious parties who previously dominated Iraq.

Baghdad - Iraqi police on Wednesday unearthed a grave containing six bodies in a village north of Baquba, the capital of Iraq's ethnically divided Diyala province, local media reported.

Police sources told the Voices of Iraq news agency that "six decayed and beheaded bodies that bore the marks of torture" were found on Wednesday in the village of Albu Teaama, near Khalis, a predominantly Shiite village surrounded by Sunni towns north of Baquba.

It was unclear who was responsible for the deaths.

Baghdad - Two bombs exploded in a crowded market in Baquba, the capital city of Iraq's ethnically divided Diyala province, on Tuesday morning, Iraqi media reported.

"On Tuesday, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated inside an ambulance near a popular market in downtown Baquba. Another IED blast followed in the same place, leaving a number of casualties that was not immediately known," a police spokesman told the Voices of Iraq news agency Tuesday.

Further details were not immediately known in the incident in Baquba, where Saturday's provincial council elections had passed peacefully.

Baghdad  - Unofficial, preliminary results from Saturday's provincial council elections suggest Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki's coalition may win provincial council elections in Iraq's nine southern provinces, Iraqi media reported Monday.

Baghdad's Afaq television station, which is funded by the ruling Dawaa Party, on Monday reported that preliminary results suggested that al-Maliki's list would perform well in a majority of Iraqi provinces, particularly in many areas of Baghdad and governorates to the south of the capital.