IRAQ: Car bomb kills 33 in Shi'ite district of east Baghdad

A car bomb killed 33 civilians and wounded 60 in a Shi'ite district of east Baghdad on Sunday (July 23), a day after an inaugural meeting to start reconciling Iraq's rival factions produced little tangible result. The bomb was in the Sadr City neighbourhood, a poor area that is a stronghold of Shi'ite militias. Three weeks ago, a car bomb in the area killed about 60 people, one of a number of very bloody incidents this month that have raised fears of civil war. There were also heavy clashes in the district overnight between the Mehdi Army of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and U.S.-led forces, residents and police said. The U.S. military said in a statement that Iraqi troops raided a site in mainly Shi'ite eastern Baghdad targeting two people believed to be involved in "death squads" -- a term usually applied to Shi'ite militia activity. It said eight people were detained after a battle involving machine guns and grenades and that two Iraqi hostages were freed. Two other people were arrested in a similar raid in northwestern Baghdad, the military said. On Saturday (July 22), leaders held the inaugural meeting of the Higher Committee for Dialogue and National Reconciliation, in a show of sectarian and ethnic solidarity before a visit to the White House by the prime minister. But many remain pessimistic about the chances of tackling rising bloodshed. The biggest party from the Sunni Arab community, which forms the backbone of a raging insurgency against a Shi'ite-led, U.S.-backed government, did not join the talks.

ITN Source | July 23, 2006

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