NYT report on first bombing "against Shiites in Baghdad since last week"

[ProSense]

Bomb Kills 15 in Shiite Area of Baghdad

By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: September 9, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sept. 8 — A bomb in a parked car exploded late Saturday in the Shiite stronghold Sadr City, killing 15 people, officials said.

The bombing was the first against Shiites in Baghdad since last week, when the cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordered his militia to halt all attacks, and it was one of three attacks against Mr. Sadr’s supporters on Saturday.

A roadside bomb struck Shiites in the holy city Kufa, Mr. Sadr’s base, killing five people. In Najaf, a drive-by shooting took the life of a tribal sheik who works closely with Mr. Sadr’s office in Najaf, said Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman at the office.

The bomb in Baghdad, set between a market and a police station, killed civilians passing by as they did their shopping for the week. It wounded 45 people.

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First? I guess the victims of these bombings (Sept. 2 - 6) were not Shiites:

Baghdad... - Around 8 a.m. a road side bomb targeted civilians in Zafaraniyah. One civilian was killed and 3 others were injured.

A civilian was killed and 24 others wounded in an IED explosion in Baladiyat neighborhood east Baghdad around 8,00 am

A roadside bomb has rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood, killing at least 13 people and injuring 25 others when it exploded next to buses used by commuters.

BAGHDAD - One person was killed and five wounded by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - One person was killed and five wounded when a car bomb exploded in a market in Zaafaraniya district in southern Baghdad on Monday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and seven wounded by a car bomb in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - At least two people were killed and two others wounded when a parked car bomb exploded in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and seven wounded by a car bomb in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

Iraq: Baghdad calmer, but politics not

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military buildup has brought some relief from bombs and bullets to Baghdad's shattered neighborhoods. But it has failed so far to reach its overarching purpose: getting Iraqis to agree to the political compromises that Washington consider crucial for any lasting stability.

That mix of cautious hope and deepening frustration — cited by U.S. officials and reinforced by recent events — will be among the key sticking points this week as Congress judges the American military surge and what to do next.

The pumped-up troop presence that began early this year was designed to ease the sectarian slaughter in Baghdad so that religious and ethnic-based parties could agree on how to share power in the new Iraq. Instead of coming together, Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds appear to be drifting farther apart and adding ever more complications to Washington's eventual goal of scaling down its record-high military presence.

Evidence is everywhere. Neighborhoods in the capital are fragmented into Sunni and Shiite enclaves. Major factions from both groups have bolted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's tottering national government. Both the Shiite and Sunni communities — armed groups and political parties alike — are riddled with rivalries and competing poles of power.

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It almost seems as the media has an agenda.

One day the world is going to find out how many Iraqis have died in Bush's illegal war

[ProSense]

1. Top aide to Sadr is slain in Baghdad

Top aide to Sadr is slain in Baghdad

The slaying of the radical cleric's deputy could ratchet up tensions between rival Shiite militia groups. A car bomb kills 15 near a busy marketplace in the capital.

By Sam Enriquez, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:36 PM PDT, September 8, 2007

BAGHDAD -- Gunmen shot and killed a prominent aide to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, police said today, and a car bomb killed 15 people after the driver sped past a checkpoint toward a crowded Baghdad marketplace.

Police ordered the driver to stop as he drove past a roadblock in the Dakhil neighborhood on the capital's east side. Officers shot at the car before it could reach the market, triggering an explosion.

"We heard gunshots from the police station and then we saw a big explosion," said Mohammed Abul Khaleq, 22, who was at a kiosk selling cellphone accessories. "The time of the explosion was around the peak at this market, when people come to shop, eat ice cream and meet friends."

The driver and 14 others were killed, police said, and 45 people were injured. The blast also damaged three restaurants and three barbershops.

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