Despite the U.S. and Iraqi military who have kept a tight cordon around Sadr City since a raid there in October, Car bombs tore through a fruit and vegetable market in a Shi’ite area of central Baghdad overnight, killing at least 51 people in another devastating attack fueling a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.
The bombing came two days after US President George W Bush met Iraq’s prime minister to discuss ways to avert all-out civil war and 10 days after the bloodiest attack since the US invasion killed more than 200 people in the capital.
Iraq has been the scene of repeated bomb attacks by suspected al-Qaeda fighters seeking to incite Shiite revenge attacks and drag the country into full-blown civil war.
Bush, under pressure to change course in the unpopular Iraq war after a stinging defeat for his Republicans in Congressional elections, pledged in his weekly radio address to seek bipartisan consensus on the way forward.
That show of strength came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Iraqi forces would be able to take over from US troops by June 2007. At talks in Jordan, Bush strongly backed him as the “right guy” and agreed to speed up training of Iraqi troops so they could take responsibility more quickly.
Via: THEAGE
