Woodruff, Cameraman Injured in Iraq

Co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously wounded after roadside bomb attack in Taji. (Courtesy of ABC News)

In Baghdad, sectarian tension between the country's dominant Muslim sects has mounted in recent days, as near daily raids by the predominately Shiite police force -- who are accused of carrying out assassinations with impunity and of being controlled by Shiite militias -- have enraged residents of largely Sunni neighborhoods.

On Sunday, Sunni politician Adnan Dulaimi said police were conducting a "sectarian cleansing" of the city, and demanded that in the country's next government, which politicians are in the process of forming, ministries controlling Iraq's security forces be put beyond the control of politicians with links to militias.

Appointments to lead the two security-oriented ministries are expected to be highly contentious. The Interior Ministry is currently led by the controversial Bayan Jabr, whose party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, controls a feared Shiite militia called the Badr organization. The defense ministry is led by Sadoun Dulaimi, a Sunni.

Badr head Hadi Amiri told the Reuters news agency Sunday that the Shiite religious parties would "never surrender" the security ministries.

Militia involvement in the police force has also inflamed tension in the southern city of Basra, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered Sunday, outside of a British army headquarters, to protest the recent detention of five policemen. The provincial government has threatened to cease cooperation with the British if the men are not released.

The crowd was led by followers of outspoken cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia retains strong influence over the local police force. They chanted "No, no, for occupation," and "release our people."

Militia members in Basra have been linked to a host of violent crimes, including the slaying of two journalists. Attacks on journalists nationwide, including kidnappings and bombings targeting hotels, have grown more frequent in recent months.

On Sunday the governor of Baghdad said in an interview that investigators had collected names and addresses of those suspected of involvement in the abduction of American reporter Jill Carroll and the killing of her translator more than three weeks ago. Gov. Hussein Taha said the suspects have ties to the Amariya neighborhood of Baghdad and that an undisclosed number of arrests had been made. At least one of the men believed to be involved was carrying a phony police identification card, he said.

Carroll, 28, is a freelance reporter who was working for the Christian Science Monitor at the time of her abduction. Her captors released a videotape threatening to kill her if all female detainees in U.S. custody were not released. Five women were released from American facilities last week, though at least four are still being held.

Correspondents Nelson Hernandez in Baghdad, Thomas E. Ricks in Balad and Special Correspondents Omar Fekeiki, Bassam Sebti and Saleh Saif Aldin in Baghdad and Hassan Shammery in Baquba contributed to this report.