A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 21 near a vegetable market in Baghdad today, Iraqi police said, as insurgents kept up a campaign of bombings despite a security crackdown backed by US reinforcements.
US President George W. Bush is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq, most to Baghdad, where Iraqi and US patrols and security outposts have been stepped up in a bid to halt sectarian violence that was killing hundreds of people a week.
A man looks at the wreckage of a vehicle used in a car bomb attack in Baghdad today
As part of efforts to stabilise Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said yesterday officials from regional states including Iran and Syria would join US and British envoys at a meeting in Baghdad next month. The United States said it would attend, opening the way to a dialogue that critics have long demanded.
In the latest bomb attack, police said a car bomb exploded on a commercial street in the Bayaa neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital, killing 10 people.
Iraqi security force spokesman Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said in the past week 30 militants had been killed and 305 known insurgents detained along with 304 other suspects. "In general the level of terrorist operations has notably decreased," he said.
Washington accuses Iran and Syria of fuelling the violence in Iraq and has spurned suggestions - including in the December report of a high-level Iraq Study Group - that recommended reaching out to both to try to stabilise Iraq.
Washington brands both countries state sponsors of terrorism and says Iranian elements have provided sophisticated roadside bombs used in Iraq. The United States accuses Syria of fanning the strife by failing to control its border.