BAQOUBA, Iraq — A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people today at the funeral for the nephew of a Shiite politician, and 13 people were killed in other violence in Iraq, making today the deadliest day since the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

The attacks came as Iraq's three major political parties were close to forming a coalition government that would include Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, a Shiite politician said.

The bombing in Muqdadiyah left tombstones covered in blood. Police said more than 100 mourners were at the cemetery for the burial of a nephew of the director of the local hospital.

Thirty-six people were wounded along with the 30 killed, said Firas al-Nida, a doctor at a hospital. Muqdadiyah is about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The director of the hospital had survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday, when his nephew was fatally wounded.

The director is also the head of the local al-Dawa party, a junior partner in the country's largest Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, police said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is the head of the Dawa party.

Police Lt. Salam Hussine said the bombing was aimed at igniting a Shiite-Sunni civil war.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the extremist Sunni leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaida in Iraq, has made Shiites his chief target.

The three major political parties — the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front and the Kurdish coalition — were working on a coalition government, an Alliance official said today, and were discussing a nominee for prime minister.

"We can say that the (three parties) are close to forming a new government," said Ridha Jawad Taqi, a member of SCIRI, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is coalition partner in the United Iraqi Alliance. "Meetings between the tickets will be resumed after announcing the final results of the elections."

An international monitoring team this week began to review results from Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, including some of the hundreds of complaints filed. A member of Iraq's election commission said final results won't be announced until the international review was completed, meaning results might be delayed until mid-January.