Iraq Faction Leaders Condemn Violence

The attacks provoked a warning from the Iraqi defense minister that "if there is civil war in this country, it will never end." Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi said that the government was prepared to "fill the streets with armored vehicles" if the violence did not stop.

U.S. officials said that American forces had stepped up patrols in the capital. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a military spokesman, said that U.S. troops had carried out 268 patrols in Baghdad in the space of 24 hours. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said the average number of patrols before the crisis was about 60.

U.S. officials have stressed that the Iraqi government will lead the response to the crisis. Iraqi leaders have publicly condemned the Samarra attacks and their aftermath, but Sunnis and Shiites have also accused each other of carrying out reprisals. Before the meeting on Saturday, Sunnis had declared that they would no longer take part in negotiations and threatened to form their own militias to defend their neighborhoods.

But in a glimmer of political progress Saturday, Sunni and Shiite clerics prayed together at two mosques in Baghdad and jointly condemned the violence, and leaders from every important political group in the country drew up a list of issues to be negotiated.

Among the thorniest of those addressed at the talks was the role of the Iraqi security forces. Sunnis have accused the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, which controls the police, of allowing Shiite militias such as the Mahdi Army to rampage through Sunni areas. The Sunnis said they would prefer to have their neighborhoods patrolled by army soldiers under the control of the Defense Ministry.

A representative of popular Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who controls the Mahdi Army, said at the meeting that he wanted an honor code stating that those involved in attacking a mosque or killing a fellow citizen would forfeit their Muslim faith.

Among the other demands was an edict that anyone killed in the latest violence would be considered a martyr and orders that no one would be arrested without a proper judicial order.

It remained unclear whether there would be an enduring agreement on these issues. But Khalilzad, who attended the meeting, said he believed the worst of the crisis was over.

"I don't believe we are completely out of danger yet, but I think the risk of a civil war has diminished," he said in a conference call to news organizations Saturday night.

Correspondent Jonathan Finer and special correspondents Omar Fekeiki and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Karbala and Hassan Shammari in Baqubah contributed to this report.