BAGHDAD – Twin car bombings struck intersections near Baghdad’s most revered Shiite shrine Wednesday. The military said the buildup of about 30,000 extra U.S. troops aimed at stopping such attacks is nearly complete but it could take up to two months for the newly arrived reinforcements to be fully effective.
That would come just weeks before Gen. David Petraeus is due to report to President Bush and Congress in September on the security operation amid Democratic-led calls to start bringing American troops home from an increasingly unpopular war.
The military also announced that four more U.S. soldiers were killed. The deaths raised to at least 3,498 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The nearly simultaneous blasts in the Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad occurred dangerously close to the golden-domed mosque that holds the remains of the Imam Moussa Kadhim, one of the 12 major Shiite saints. At least seven people were killed, according to police officials.
Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of at least 47 men showing signs of torture, 34 of them in Baghdad, the apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias.
The high number of such execution-style killings signals a rise in militia violence. There had been a lull after al-Sadr ordered his fighters to lay low to avoid confrontations during the U.S.-security crackdown that began Feb. 14.
The militants have shown increasing impatience as the U.S. and the Iraqi military fail to stop the suicide attacks and car bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents led by al-Qaida in Iraq – despite the influx of troops and stepped-up security measures.
The last of five brigades and support troops scheduled to reinforce U.S. forces in Baghdad and surrounding areas will arrive in the “next couple of weeks,” but it may take up to two months for the forces to establish themselves fully and get used to working with the Iraqis, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Wednesday.
The Bush administration has warned that the troop buildup will result in more U.S. casualties as American soldiers increasingly come into contact with enemy forces and concentrate on the streets of Baghdad and remote outposts.
Four U.S. soldiers were reported killed in separate incidents since Tuesday – roadside bombings in eastern Baghdad and near Beiji north of the capital, and an explosion and enemy gunfire in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
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