In a bloody response to overtures from the Shiite-led government, suicide bombers and gunmen went on a weekend killing spree that left at least 35 people dead, among them Shiite youngsters waiting for falafel sandwiches and ice cream.
US Marines engaged and killed at least 40 heavily armed insurgents Saturday near the Syrian border after the militants had taken control of a road near the frontier city of Qaim in Anbar province, they said.
The marines have lost seven men to insurgent attacks in Anbar province since Thursday, including two on Friday just west of Fallujah.
The battle took place in Karabilah, just outside Qaim, and in the same region 320km west of Baghdad where insurgents in recent days killed 21 people after beheading three of them. The bodies, found Friday, were believed to belong to a group of missing Iraqi soldiers.
Marine aircraft fired seven precision-guided missiles at insurgents armed with AK-47 assault rifles, medium machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, the marines said, adding that no US troops or civilians were injured.
In Baghdad, the Shiite interior minister fighting the predominantly Sunni Arab insurgency, Bayan Jabr, vowed Saturday after the latest round of violence that he would never talk to anyone "who stole the smile off our children's faces."
One of Saturday's main insurgent targets was the pride of Jabr's ministry, a feared commando unit that lost at least three of its men when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a morning roll call at its heavily guarded Baghdad headquarters.
Jabr said the attack against the predominantly Shiite Wolf Brigade was carried out by one of its former members. But Jabr did not name him and it was unclear if the attacker was a Shiite.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack. In an Internet statement posted on a Web site used by militant groups, al-Zarqawi's group identified him as a Sunni seeking vengeance. The statement's authenticity couldn't be verified.
Gunmen also attacked an Interior Ministry commando convoy in western Baghdad's Mansour area, killing three police officers.
The attacks, which began late Friday, came at a delicate time for both the government and Sunni leaders who are hunting for a political solution to Iraq's insurgency, which escalated following the April 28 announcement of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government.
Despite Iraqi claims that its counterinsurgency campaigns have been effective, at least 934 people have died since the government's inception -- with at least a third felled by car bombs, many launched by suicide attackers.
Shiite and Kurdish politicians, including Iraq's president, have sought to defuse sectarian tensions by including more members of the minority on a committee to draft the country's new constitution -- which requires Sunni Arab approval to take effect. The charter must be drafted by mid-August and submitted to a referendum two months later.
"The Sunni Arabs are an essential structure of the country and they should not be marginalized. They should have a real representation in Iraq and must participate in drafting the constitution," said Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a Shiite legislator and former national security adviser.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in southern Najaf, al-Rubaie also said he thought Saddam Hussein could face trial before the referendum. The government last week made similar claims, but stepped back from them.
"As a government we are looking forward to seeing Saddam Hussein inside the court's cage before the referendum, but there are some security and political obstacles concerning this issue," he said.
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