Two of Iraq's most influential Shiite and Sunni bodies decided to try to ease sectarian tensions pushing the country toward civil war. This came as a suicide car bomb attack near the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday killed two and wounded nine. The bomber was apparently targeting a U.S. convoy, said police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.
"We are all Muslims, and usually problems happen between one family. We want to solve them on the basis of Islamic brotherhood," said one Sunni official, Isam Al Rawi, according to The AP. In Baghdad, Iraqi police and army units prepared to launch a crackdown Sunday against "insurgents." More than 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, supported by U.S. troops, will deploy to the new checkpoints and later start street-to-street sweeps.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Sunday that a roadside bomb attack in central Mosul a day earlier killed eight Iraqis, including three children, and injured two. In addition, one U.S. Marine was killed when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle Saturday near Haqlaniyah, 137 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
A U.S. soldier died from wounds from a homemade bomb near Diyara, west of Baghdad, the military said Saturday.
Also Sunday, a British soldier was killed and a number were injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq. They were members of a convoy that was attacked in the southeastern town of Amara.
