Bomb and mortar attacks tormented war-weary Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 23 people, as Iraq set the date for a security conference that could see Washington sit down with archfoes Iran and Syria. The deadliest blast ripped through “Street Number 20”, a bustling commercial area southwest of the capital, killing at least 10 people, defence officials and state television said.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber charged a police station, killing two bystanders, and guerrilla mortar teams bombarded. The US military said eight Al Qaeda militants were killed and six arrested in air strikes north of the capital on Wednesday.
Gunmen killed two brothers of a prominent politician on Wednesday in the insurgent stronghold of Muqdadiya, north of Baghdad, police and the politician said. The moderate lawmaker Saleem al-Jubouri, spokesman for the largest Sunni political bloc in parliament, said that his brothers, Fuad and Ahmed, were killed instantly when gunmen opened fire on them in his volatile home province of Diyala.
Britain said one of its soldiers had been killed on Tuesday in an attack on his patrol in Basra. An American soldier was also shot dead on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said, “There has been a couple of weeks of reduction in the levels of kidnappings and extra-judicial killings.” “But there has also been an increase in the number of car bombs and improvised explosive devices,” he added, warning that it would be months not weeks before anyone can tell whether the plan is working.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, fixed a date of March 10 for an international security conference where he would urge regional neighbours to put pressure on armed factions to halt the bloodshed.
The head of the Defence Intelligence Agency said on Tuesday the US had evidence that Iraqi extremists were being trained inside Iran in the use of armour-piercing explosives. Lieutenant General Michael Maples gave no details in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the US may have a military presence in Iraq for a “prolonged period” and drew a comparison with US bases in Germany and South Korea. He also asked a Senate panel for $2.4 billion to fund research into ways to defeat roadside bombs that have killed more than a thousand US troops in Iraq.