IRAQ: Violence continues in Baghdad before reconciliation talks.

An explosive expert was killed and another one was wounded on Wednesday (December 13) while trying to defuse a car bomb in a Baghdad Shi'ite neighbourhood, police sources said. They said that the blast took place in the teeming Shi'ite district of Sadr City around 1800 (1500GMT) on Wednesday. "People suspected the car of being booby-trapped so we called Saqar (eagle) Baghdad force to come and defuse it. They discovered four shells attached to it and a box full of screws and two batteries. The force arrived and examined it and then they sent a remote-controlled robot and then two members of the force walked to it but the car exploded while they were trying to defuse it, killing both of them," said Abu Ahmed. Meanwhile, a barrage of mortar rounds hit Palestinians' residential complex in Baladiyat district in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday night killing one and wounding six others. The wounded were taken to the Nu'man Hospital in Adhamiya district. "A number of mortar rounds landed at Baladiyat district, killing and wounded a large number of children. I do not the number of the casualties. Tens of people were wounded but I do not know how many exactly," said a woman relative of one of the wounded. To the west of Baghdad, insurgents said they had downed an unmanned American spy plane as it cruised over Garma area near Falluja. The television footage appeared to show a masked man with a rifle in his hand dismantling the drone, which do not show signs of damage. The U.S. military said they were unaware of such an incident. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, racked by sectarian tensions that have paralysed decision-making, has struggled to rein in violence blamed on Sunni Islamist insurgent groups such as al Qaeda and Shi'ite militias. Maliki is to host a national reconciliation conference in Baghdad on Saturday which aims to bring together Kurdish, Sunni Arabs, Shi'ites and secular political groups. But many Iraqis fear the violence may be too far gone to be stopped. The fresh violence comes as U.S. President George W. Bush reviews U.S. strategy in Iraq. The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was speeding up the training of Iraqi forces and that it was using more U.S. combat troops as advisers.

ITN Source | December 14, 2006

Tags:. .fear. .strategy. .prime. .gone. .troops