63 Killed in Blasts Amid Baghdad Sweep

Condoleezza Rice visits Baghdad on Saturday and praises the security forces for their success in reducing the city’s violence since the start of their crackdown three days previously. Many will have felt she was claiming success too early, and especially the people perpetrating these car bombings.

Militants struck back Sunday in their first major blow against a U.S.-led security clampdown in Baghdad with car bombings that killed at least 63 people, left scores injured and sent a grim message to officials boasting that extremist factions were on the run.

The attacks in mostly Shiite areas – twin explosions in an open-air market that claimed 62 lives and a third blast that killed one – were a sobering reminder of the challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.

Instead, it was the Iraqi commanders of the security sweep feeling the sting.

Just a few hours before the blasts, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar led reporters on a tour of the neighborhood near the marketplace that was attacked and promised to ``chase the terrorists out of Baghdad.’‘ On Saturday, the Iraqi spokesman for the plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, said violence had plummeted by 80 percent in the capital.

Posted by Watson