BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister sharply criticized a US-Iraqi attack on
a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, exposing a rift with his American
partners on security tactics, as 24 people were killed Tuesday in a series of
bombings and a shooting.
An American soldier also died of wounds sustained in fighting in western
Anbar province, the US military said Tuesday.
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Smoke billows after a bomb blast in a market
in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Aug. 8, 2006. Two roadside bombs exploded in the
main Shurja market in central Baghdad within minutes of each other,
killing 10 people and injuring 50, said police. Meanwhile, Iraq's prime
minister sharply criticized a US-Iraqi attack on a Shiite militia
stronghold in Baghdad, exposing a rift with his American partners on
security tactics. [AP]
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The latest violence - in addition to the 10 killed in a suicide bombing
in Samarra on Monday - occurred amid a major US operation to secure Baghdad
in order to control Shiite-Sunni sectarian bloodshed that many fear will lead to
civil war.
The US-Iraqi air and ground attack was launched before dawn Monday in Sadr
City, which is controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi
Army militia. Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were
killed in the raid, which the US command said was aimed at "individuals involved
in punishment and torture cell activities."
Three people were captured, the US military said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said he was "very angered and
pained" by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts toward
national reconciliation.
"Reconciliation cannot go hand-in-hand with operations that violate the
rights of citizens this way," al-Maliki said in a statement on government
television. "This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone
— like using planes."
He apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said "this won't
happen again."
Hours after he spoke, central Baghdad was shaken early Tuesday by three
near-simultaneous bomb explosions near the Interior Ministry building in the
Al-Nahda neighborhood. Ten civilians were killed and eight people were injured,
said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid.
A few hours later, two roadside bombs exploded within minutes of each other
in the main Shurja market in central Baghdad, killing 10 people and injuring 50,
said police Lt. Mohammed Kheyoun.
At about the same time, gunmen stormed a bank in Baghdad and killed two
guards and a customer. They drove away with an unknown amount of money, said
police Sgt. Zakariya Hassan. Also Tuesday, two roadside bombs in Tikrit north of
Baghdad killed a policeman, said police Capt. Laith Hamid.
Overnight, nine bullet-riddled bodies were found in Kut south of Baghdad, and
four Shiites were shot dead by gunmen in Baqouba, northeast of the capital.
On Monday, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, met with the top US commander in
Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., to discuss security operations in Baghdad.
Talabani said he told Casey "it is in no one's interest to have a confrontation"
with al-Sadr's movement.
