Violence in Iraq Kills 60 As Market, Recruits Hit

On the sidewalk, the blood of Hussam Abdul Kareem, 25, who was a married father of two, mixed with the peanuts and pistachios he had been selling. The henna and oil lamps sold by Um Satar, a widow responsible for 12 children, lay buried in rubble. The Yogurt Father said both were killed instantly.

"Shouldn't there be some part for the government to play in reducing these explosions?" asked Nuri Hammed, a 40-year-old teacher, after he bought a small cup of yogurt for 250 dinars, less than 20 cents. He complained that politicians promised reconciliation but didn't take effective measures to reduce violence. "This government is carrying a rose in one hand and a knife in the other hand."

Later in the day, in Baghdad's Karrada section, a bomb exploded at a gas station as a police patrol passed. "Run away from your cars! Leave the gas station!" shouted Abu Hamza, the gas station manager, as people flocked to restaurants across the street. As they did, a car parked there earlier by two men exploded, said Alaa Hussein, who owns two of the restaurants.

The explosions killed two police officers and a gas station security guard and wounded nine people, hospital officials said.

Wednesday night in Baghdad, intense clashes broke out in neighborhoods east of Sadr City, a Shiite Muslim slum controlled by radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Witnesses in the nearby Obaydi and Kamaliyah areas reported as many as seven loud explosions at about 9:30 p.m., followed by the sound of U.S. helicopters and fighter planes overhead. Then shooting broke out. Some streets were filled with members of the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by Sadr, residents said.

" Allahu akbar !" blared loudspeakers on mosques in some areas after the shooting began. "God is great!"

Mohammed al-Askari, an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, said Iraqi and U.S.-led forces carried out a raid in those neighborhoods and were shot at, but he would not provide any other details.

Early Thursday morning, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad also confirmed a significant operation in the area but would not elaborate.

A U.S. military official said the operation involved American forces and gunmen believed to be members of the Mahdi Army. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

In Najaf, police Lt. Muayed Shuker said a rocket fired from a neighborhood dominated by Sadr loyalists struck a nearby U.S. military base. A U.S. military spokesman said he had no information about such an incident.

The U.S. military also said Wednesday that a Marine assigned to the 1st Brigade of the Army's 1st Armored Division died Tuesday in Anbar province, a volatile stronghold for Sunni insurgents.

Despite the violence, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said he hoped Iraqi forces could take control of security in the country as early as next year without substantial help from the U.S. military.

"I don't have a date," Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said in Baghdad. "But I can see -- over the next 12 to 18 months -- I can see the Iraqi security forces progressing to a point where they can take on the security responsibilities for the country with very little coalition support."

Sarhan reported from Hilla. Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim and Naseer Nouri and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.