Gunmen attacked two Sunni mosques early yesterday in Baghdad's western districts, fanning Iraq's sectarian crisis. The US command said three more US Marines died in action in western Iraq.
Men in two BMWs sprayed gunfire at the Muhammad Rassulluallah mosque shortly after midnight, shattering its windows and damaging its walls, police said. One mosque guard was injured.
One hour later, gunmen stormed into the Ashra al-Mubashara mosque, but fled when Iraqi police arrived, officials said.
Sunni-Shiite violence has escalated in recent months, with Sunni radicals -- including members of al-Qaeda -- and Shiite militias staging tit-for-tat killings. Thousands from both sects have fled the country, according to Iraqi officials.
The Marines died on Thursday in western Anbar province, a focal point of the Sunni-dominated insurgency. A US statement yesterday said they were attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, which operates in Ramadi, but gave no further details.
A statement issued on Friday said another Marine from Regimental Combat Team 5 was also killed on Thursday in Anbar.
Their deaths brought the number of US service members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,573, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.
Also yesterday, six day laborers and a young girl were wounded when a bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad's Tayaran Square, where the workers had gathered to wait for job offers.
The western regional commander of the Border Protection Force, Brigadier General Jawad Hadi al-Selawi, was assassinated in Karbala, 80km south of Baghdad, police said.
Three policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in northern Baghdad, police said.
The attacks came a day after the head of the biggest Shiite party called for a greater security role for Iraqis rather than Americans. The call by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim runs counter to US plans to put more US soldiers on the streets of Baghdad to try to curb the surge in sectarian violence.
The US plan calls for moving up to 5,000 additional US troops with armored vehicles and tanks into Baghdad. Some critics believe the move will undermine confidence among Iraqi forces and expose more US soldiers to attacks by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Al-Hakim, former commander of the feared Badr Brigade militia, has long complained the US has interfered with Iraqi forces' efforts to crack down on Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. He said the surging violence was due to "being lax in hunting down terrorists and upholding the wrong policies in dealing with them."
Al-Hakim said Sunni extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists were to blame for the violence.
However, he also endorsed the government's pledge to disband militias, including those affiliated with Shiite politicians.
Also on Friday, another top Shiite politician, Hadi al-Amiri, said there were rumors in Iraq of a plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and replace it with a sectarian government of national salvation.
"We don't call it a national salvation government, we call it a military coup," said al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the armed wing of al-Hakim's party. "We'll prevent that because that means canceling the constitution and the results of the elections and entering a dark tunnel, which is something we will never allow."
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