Baghdad, Iraq ? An explosion outside an army recruiting center in Baghdad killed at least 16 Iraqis on Monday as lawmakers struggled to break a deadlock over legislation Sunni Arabs fear will split the country into three pieces.

In all, violence around the country killed at least 29 Iraqis, 24 of them in the capital. Five bodies also turned up on city streets and in the Tigris River running through the capital.

A U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire after his patrol came under attack Sunday north of Baghdad, the U.S. military command said.

In Monday’s deadliest attack, a minibus loaded with explosives blew up near the northern gate of the al-Muthana recruiting center in central Baghdad, killing at least 16 Iraqis and wounding seven, Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Ibrahim al-Obeidi said.

Meanwhile, the leader of the largest Sunni Arab group in parliament, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said political parties opposed to a federalism bill were trying to work together to prevent it from being implemented without changes.

One of the amendments Sunnis are seeking would prevent the weakening of Iraq’s central government in favor of powerful autonomous regions. Both the north and south are rich in oil, and Sunnis fear they will end up squeezed into Baghdad and Iraq’s western provinces, which have no natural resources.

“We are trying to calm the situation and we had our first meeting with the Kurds today to find a common ground,” al-Dulaimi, who heads the Iraqi Accordance Front, told The Associated Press.

The federalism bill submitted to parliament last week by the largest Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, calls for a three-part federation. It would create a separate autonomous state in the predominantly Shiite south much like the zone run by Kurds in the north.

Sunni Arabs fear this will split Iraq apart and fuel sectarian bloodshed.

Al-Dulaimi’s bloc, along with a smaller Sunni Arab group, two Shiite groupings, and a secular party forced parliament on Sunday to postpone debate on the bill for the second time.

“We do believe that we have to reach an agreement with the other blocs which support our opinion in order to avoid any division among big blocs,” he said. “That is why we call for dialogue and national reconciliation. By dialogue we can settle disputes, but with bloodshed we will increase problems.”