Early morning bombings including a blast that killed six when it struck a minivan of workers in southern Baghdad continued yesterday as US and Iraqi officials promised to crackdown on violence and sectarian attacks.
Police Captain Jamil Hussein said the blast occurred around 8am in Baghdad's violent southern neighborhood of Dora, where bombings and shootings have become commonplace.
A roadside bomb detonated next to a police patrol east of Kirkuk, but missed and struck a civilian car. One person was killed in the explosion police said.
The deaths come as Iraqi and US officials plan a security crackdown after al-Qaeda vowed to carry out "major attacks" after a coalition air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Officials hope his death will slow sectarian violence that kills dozens daily.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new security team has moved ahead with a plan to restore security in Baghdad, which has suffered most from suicide attackers, roadside bombs and sectarian death squads. The government will announce the plan in days.
Iraqi officials on Sunday freedd some 200 detainees from Abu Ghraib. Al-Maliki has promised to release 2,000 detainees from US-run prisons by the end of this month -- a total that would be the largest since the US led invasion in 2003.
Sunnis frequently complain of random detentions and maltreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government and the releases are seen as a key step toward dampening the Sunni-led insurgency.
The discussions on security come after al-Qaeda in Iraq insisted in a Web statement last weekend that it was still powerful after the death of Zarqawi. The statement said the group's leadership "renews its allegiance" to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
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