A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence again Thursday, killing a dozen people in a mostly Shiite district a day after more than 230 people died in one of the war's deadliest episodes of violence.Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the violence in Baghdad an "open battle" -- nine weeks into a U.S.-led effort began to pacify the capital's streets. Despite new barricades and checkpoints erected as part of the security crackdown, a fraction of the cars in Baghdad -- a city of six million residents -- are searched at all. Many suicide car bombs explode at checkpoints, either targeting Iraqi troops or detonating a moment before they are discovered.
Some residents have suggested that Sunni insurgents have secretly stockpiled explosives in Shiite areas, and are now rigging their cars with bombs very close to their targets, to avoid driving long distances and risking security checks. Thursday's bomber struck within half a mile of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's home in the mostly Shiite Karradah district where one of Wednesday's bombs exploded. Talabani was not believed to have been the target.
The bombing killed at least 12 people and wounded 34, police said. Two Iraqi soldiers were among the fatalities. "It is an open battle and will not be the last in the war we are fighting for the sake of the nation, dignity, honor and the people," al-Maliki said in a speech at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the founding his Islamic Dawa Party. "They (attackers) have proven their spite by targeting humanity."