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72 Bodies Found in Baghdad in 24 Hours
Bismarck Tribune/AP
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
March 14, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Police found at least 72 bodies killed by gunfire in Baghdad in the past 24 hours - a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal attacks in some of the capital's most dangerous neighborhoods, officials said Tuesday.

The bloodshed - the second wave of mass killings in Iraq since bombers destroyed an important Shiite shrine last month - followed weekend attacks in a teeming Shiite slum in which 58 people died and more than 200 were wounded.

Iraq's Interior Ministry announced a ban on driving in the capital to coincide with the first meeting of the country's new parliament on Thursday. The ban takes effect at 8 p.m. Wednesday and lasts until 4 p.m. Thursday.

Squabbling over the composition of a new government has delayed the inaugural session since the results of Dec. 15 parliamentary elections were confirmed over a month ago.

Leaders of Iraq's main ethnic and religious blocs, meanwhile, began a series of marathon meetings Tuesday in an attempt to break the deadlock. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been shuttling between the main factions, joined the session hosted by Shiite leader Adbul-Aziz al-Hakim.

The stakes are high for the United States, which hopes a strong and inclusive central government can stabilize the country so its forces can start drawing down in the summer.

In a new spasm of violence, authorities said they had found the bullet-ridden bodies of at least 75 people - 72 in Baghdad and three in Mosul.

An abandoned minibus containing 15 bodies was found Tuesday on the main road between two mostly Sunni neighborhoods in west Baghdad, not far from where another minibus containing 18 bodies was discovered last week, said Interior Ministry official Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi.

The bodies of 17 more men in their underwear and partially covered with dirt were dug up in a field in a mostly Shiite east Baghdad suburb, he said.

At least 40 more bodies were discarded in various parts of Baghdad, including both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, he said.

Those killed in Baghdad included a number of bodies recovered from Sadr City, where two car bombs and four mortar rounds shattered shops and market stalls at nightfall Sunday, as residents shopped for food for their evening meals.

The violence since the Feb. 22 bombing of the famed golden dome atop the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra has complicated negotiations for Iraq's first permanent, post-invasion government. A caretaker government has been in charge since the December elections, and U.S. and Iraqi officials fear the vacuum in authority is fueling the bloodshed.

Under pressure from the U.S. ambassador, leaders of the main ethnic and religious groups agreed Sunday to meet daily until they can unblock the political negotiations.

Among the most contentious issues is Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's candidacy for a second term. Kurdish, Sunni and some secular leaders argue he is too divisive a figure and accuse him of doing too little to contain reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques and clerics after the Shiite shrine was destroyed.

The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance is itself divided over al-Jaafari. He won the nomination by just one vote last month in large part because of the support of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Hakim favored Adil Abdul-Mahdi, one of two current vice presidents.

Also present at Tuesday's meeting were President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, leaders of the main Kurdish parties; Dhafir al-Ani, an official with the main Sunni bloc; and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.

Scorched pavement, destroyed shops, burned out cars and the dangling bodies awaited Shiite residents emerging from their homes Monday in Sadr City.

The scene, although gruesome, was not what many had feared: That the deadly explosions the previous night would ignite all-out civil war.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - whose stronghold was targeted Sunday - refused to be provoked. With thousands of his Mahdi Army militiamen ready to fight, the anti-American leader called for calm and national unity.

In Washington, President Bush said insurgents were trying to ignite a civil war by escalating the violence.

"I wish I could tell you that the violence is waning and that the road ahead will be smooth," Bush said in a speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies at George Washington University. "It will not. There will be more tough fighting and more days of struggle, and we will see more images of chaos and carnage in the days and months to come."

Britain, the United States' largest military partner in Iraq, showed its confidence in a peaceful Iraq by announcing a 10 percent - about 800-troop - reduction by May.

"This is a significant reduction which is based largely on the ability of the Iraqis themselves to participate and defend themselves against terrorism, but there is a long, long way to go," British Defense Secretary John Reid said in London.

Bomb blasts and shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital, many of them targeting Iraqi police patrols, killed at least 15 more people Monday and wounded more than 40. They included a U.S. soldier who died in a roadside bombing, the military said. A U.S. Marine was reported killed Sunday in insurgent-plagued Anbar province.

The American deaths brought the number of U.S. military members killed to at least 2,308 since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Associated Press Writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report from Baghdad.

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