Speaker Pelosi leads delegation to Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a bipartisan group of lawmakers on a trip to Iraq on Saturday for a visit her office called a pre-Memorial Day chance to express appreciation to troops serving there.

The delegation, which flew into Baghdad from Israel, met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other U.S. and Iraqi leaders.

"In the meetings in Baghdad today, I made clear that the war must be brought to an end," said Pelosi, a California Democrat. "It has already taken far too many American and Iraqi lives, it has cost far too much in money and the reputation of the United States and it has drained far too much from the capability of our military."

Pelosi also said Iraqi officials told her that provincial elections would be held this year and that "they would be transparent, inclusive and a step toward national reconciliation."

Also Saturday one person was killed and 23 were wounded in two suicide bombings near an Awakening Council office in the capital of Diyala province, police said.

A female bomber, who appeared to be in her late teens, struck outside the council office in Baquba around noon, a medical source in Diyala said.

As police were making their way to the hospital -- some of them transporting the wounded -- another female suicide bomber in a car detonated explosives, wounding seven, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. That attack happened about half a mile away from the council office.

Four Awakening Council members and two police officers are among the wounded, police said.

Awakening Councils are groups of Sunni fighters who have turned against al Qaeda in Iraq.

Suicide bombings by females have increased in Iraq, particularly in Diyala province. Wednesday, a teenage girl targeting Iraqi soldiers detonated a suicide vest in Yusufiya, south of Baghdad.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq's tactics of sending women to conduct these ruthless attacks of violence is another example of the nature of [the] enemy," said Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq, earlier this month.

He said tips from residents and coalition forces are making it difficult for al Qaeda in Iraq to carry out attacks, so the group is now resorting to using women as bombers.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, Iraqi security forces said they discovered the bodies of nine people who had apparently been shot -- some of them showing signs of having been tortured.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said the bodies in Baghdad were found Friday and Saturday. An official said security forces could not identify the bodies, some of which "showed signs of torturing" and had their hands and legs tied.

Also in Baghdad, four roadside bombs exploded Saturday, killing one person and wounding at least eight, and another two were defused, according to the Interior Ministry.

A bomb that exploded near an Iraqi army patrol at about 6:30 p.m. local time killed one person and injured three in Shaab, a Shiite neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad.

One of the other bombs exploded near a U.S. military convoy near Shaab Stadium about 11:30 a.m. No more details of that attack were available, the official said.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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All About Iraq • Diyala Province • Al Qaeda in Iraq • Nancy Pelosi