The wave of attacks comes as Iraqi and US forces are gearing up for a security crackdown in a bid to halt the sectarian violence that is claiming hundreds of lives in Iraq every week. This is the messy predicament facing America, President Bush and members of Congress.
The headlines of the most prominent news sites say that about 250 militants were killed in fierce fighting around the holy city of Najaf however lets have a closer look at the figures of the dead.
* Three Iraqi soldiers had reportedly died in the battle and 21 were injured.
* The US military said two of its troops died when their helicopter was shot down, but did not confirm any of the Iraqi casualty figures.
* Earlier on Sunday seven Iraqi children died after their schools were targeted - five in Baghdad where a mortar hit a high school and two in a bomb attack at a primary school in Ramadi.
In other violence on Sunday:
* A car bomb in the Sadr City district of Baghdad killed at least four people
* A bomb killed at least five people outside a warehouse in the mainly Kurdish Almas district of central Kirkuk
* Gunmen ambushed a senior official in Iraq’s industry ministry as he drove to work, killing him, his daughter and two other people.
However, it is hard to swallow the fact that with 21,500 additional troops to Iraq are failing in every aspect of their strategy. Additional troops to Iraq is probably Bush’s last chance to stem sectarian violence and turn around Prime Minister Nuri-al-Maliki’s reluctant government. The increase, however, won’t help if the Iraqis don’t do their part on the battlefront and most importantly the political. Maliki’s failure to disarm the rebel militia of a political ally, anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, raises a question of trust.
If more Iraqis suffer and die, the nation is surely to become an Islamic extremist hotbed for Syria, Iran, and probably all moderate Arab nations.
Via: BBC
