Roundup: Violence escalates in Baghdad despite reconciliation plan

At least 185 people were killed and wounded Saturday in Baghdad as violence ran high despite reconciliation and security plans presented by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to curb insurgency in the war-torn country.

In Baghdad's vast slum of Sadr City, up to 62 people were killed and about 114 others wounded when an explosive-laden vehicle went off shortly after 10:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) near the heavily populated Souq al-Auola market, according to an Interior Ministry source.

The attack targeted a passing police patrol, which escaped unhurt, the source said, adding that all the victims were civilians.

In a separate incident, gunmen abducted a female Sunni Arab lawmaker and seven of her bodyguards while traveling in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad, police and Sunni lawmakers said.

The convoy of Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani, 31, a member of the Sunni Consensus Front, was attacked by gunmen in two cars in the al-Saha intersection in Shaab neighborhood, an Interior Ministry source said on condition of anonymity.

Sunni lawmakers also confirmed the incident.

Al-Mashhadani's convoy was traveling from Diyala province to Baghdad through the Shaab neighborhood, said Ayad al-Samarraie, a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, part of the Consensus Front.

Meanwhile, another Iraqi Islamic party member in Diyala, Hamdi Hasson, told the pan-Arab al-Jazeera television that a fake checkpoint stopped al-Mashhadani's convoy at the Saha intersection at about 9:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) and kidnapped the victims after they handcuffed them.

He said that an eighth bodyguard ran away from the scene and returned to Diyala's Baquba city, some 65 km north of Baghdad, to report to the Islamic Party in the city.

Earlier, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police commando patrol near a cinema in Baghdad's Alawi neighborhood, killing three commando members.

The blast damaged a police vehicle, killing three commando members aboard and causing damage to nearby buildings and shops.

Also on Saturday, an Iraqi police patrol found six bodies dumped inside a house under construction in Baghdad's southern district of Doura.

"We have found six unidentified bodies in a house behind the Faiyaliq School early in the morning," an Interior Ministry source said.

The bodies were bound and with bullet holes in the head and chest, the source said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported a death and an injury of U.S. soldiers, whose vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad on Thursday.

The attack took place at about 9:50 p.m. (1750 GMT) when a U.S. military convoy was conducting a combat logistic operation near Balad town, 80 km north of Baghdad, according to a military statement.

The flare-up of violence occurred as al-Maliki has launched a crackdown in Baghdad since June 14 with 50,000 Iraqi troops supported by 7,000 U.S. troops.

The prime minister also offered a reconciliation plan, including an amnesty to some rebel groups and a call for disarmament of militia.

However, the security situation in Baghdad deteriorated despite all the efforts, dealing a heavy blow to the government's efforts to curb violence in the capital.

Source: Xinhua