Iraqis call for end to sectarian killing

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-27 15:35

In Baghdad, the government partially lifted a 24-hour curfew it had imposed in response to the bombing and mortar attack in Sadr City, and some Iraqis went shopping at vegetable and fruit markets after being confined to their homes for two full days.

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"The situation is better today because we can finally get out and buy food for the first time in two days," said Hussein Fadel, a Shi'ite civil servant, as he shopped in Sadr City, where memorial services were still being held for people killed in Thursday's attack. "I hope the city is less tense today."

A traffic ban remained in place, and the capital's streets were empty of cars and trucks, except those of Iraqi and US security forces. On Saturday, the government lifted a 24-hour curfew that had closed the southern port city of Basra to all vehicular traffic and shipping.

But mortar attacks and shootings continued in Baghdad, killing a total of seven people and wounding seven, police said. A tortured body also was found in the Tigris River.

Two mortar rounds hit a US military post in eastern Baghdad, setting it on fire and leaving a dark cloud of smoke above the Baladiyat neighborhood, police and witnesses said. Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a US military spokesman, confirmed that "indirect fire rounds" hit the area, but declined to provide details. No casualties were reported.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, Sunni lawmaker who heads a large Sunni bloc in Parliament, also escaped unharmed when gunmen attacked his home in Baghdad and were repelled by his armed guards, the legislator said.

A total of 43 people were killed or found dead in Iraq on Sunday, police said.

An Iraqi security detainee died at a US prison in southern Iraq two days after being taken to a hospital after suffering chest pains, the military said. The detainee, whose name was not given, died Saturday "from what appears to be natural causes" at Camp Bucca near Basra, the military said.


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