At Least 100 Die as Militia Force Iraqi Troops out of Town
At least 100 people were killed across Iraq yesterday in a day of intense gun battles and suicide bombings, contradicting US military claims that the security situation in the war-torn nation was improving.
The latest violence was a reminder of how easily Iraq could slip back into the type of endemic sectarian violence that characterised much of the first half of this year after the destruction in February of a Shia shrine in the town of Samarra.
More than 10,000 Iraqis – the vast majority in Baghdad – have been killed in the past four months alone, a figure that would send shockwaves through the international community were it in any other part of the world.
The US military admitted that there had been a spike in violence in Baghdad, but insisted that things were improving since US-led forces launched Operation Forward Together last month in an attempt to pacify the capital.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 