BAGHDAD, Iraq – Bombs, rockets, mortar shells and gunfire claimed the lives of at least 70 Iraqis and injured hundreds Sunday, even as the government announced an overhaul of security forces.
The most deadly violence of the day involved apparently coordinated attacks on Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite Muslim slum in eastern Baghdad, that left at least 46 people dead and more than 200 wounded.
Close to sunset, two car bombs, one detonated by a suicide attacker, tore through two busy markets less than a mile apart in Sadr City. The explosions were followed by rocket and mortar attacks.
Shortly after the explosions, the streets were teeming with members of the al-Mahdi militia, a group loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, many firing AK-47s into the air.
Gunmen and explosions killed 12 Iraqis elsewhere in the capital, while the bodies of a dozen others were found around the city, some in a sewage ditch, according to police and hospital officials.
At a palace inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi and Interior Minister Bayan Jabr announced the security initiative after weeks of sectarian violence.
Under the new plan, the military and police would put together joint teams when making arrests. Security forces would be required to issue to detainees receipts stating the units of the arresting authorities. And members of U.S.-led coalition forces would sit in on investigations to “ensure (their) integrity,” al-Duleimi said.
Sunnis have long complained that the Iraqi police force has been infiltrated by Shiite militiamen who are carrying out extrajudicial executions and torture. Almost daily, bodies are found bound, blindfolded and shot execution-style.
“It will help us find out who arrested the people who later show up dead,” al-Duleimi said of the reforms.
In another move to ease political tensions, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari held a rare meeting with interim President Jalal Talabani, and the president’s office announced that the opening session of Iraq’s new parliament would be moved up to Thursday.
The parliamentary session sets in motion the formation of Iraq’s first full government since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The president, vice presidents, prime minister and Cabinet are supposed to be chosen within four months of the first meeting.
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