BAGHDAD, Iraq – Cars, minibuses and roadside bombs exploded in Shiite Muslim enclaves across the city Sunday, killing at least 45 people in sectarian violence that defied the Baghdad security crackdown, while a radical anti-U.S. cleric raised a new threat to Iraq’s government.
Two officials close to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his followers would quit their six Cabinet posts today – a move that could leave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s already weak administration without enough support to stay in power.
And in a rare gesture of dissent from America’s partners in Baghdad, dozens of Iraqi policemen demonstrated in front of their station, accusing U.S. troops of treating them like “animals” and “slaves.”
The U.S. military command announced the combat deaths of three more Americans. Two British service members died when their helicopters crashed in midair north of Baghdad, and hours later a U.S. helicopter was hit by ground fire near Mosul but landed safely with no injuries.
Six powerful bombs, gunfire and artillery blasts enveloped Baghdad in a near-constant din that seemed a setback for the 9-week-old U.S.-Iraqi military campaign to pacify the capital.
U.S. commanders previously cited a slight decrease in violence since the crackdown began Feb. 14, but urged patience for what they warned would be a long, tough fight.
“Although we’re making steady progress … we have a long way to go,” Rear Adm. Mark Fox, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said Sunday. “We will continue to face attacks from those who attempt to tear down what the Iraqi people have worked so hard to build.”
Violence has spiked upward again in Baghdad, with Sunday’s six bombings coming just three days after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside parliament and killed a lawmaker.
“This week has been difficult for the Iraqi people,” Fox acknowledged.
Latest identifications reported by the military of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq:
Army 1st Lt. Gwilym J. Newman, 24, Waldorf, Md.; died Thursday in Tarmiyah, of wounds suffered from small-arms fire; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Army Cpl. Jason Beadles, 22, La Porte, Ind.; died Thursday in Baghdad of a noncombat-related injury; assigned to the 887th Engineer Company, 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Army Spc. James Lindsey, 20, Florence, Ala.; died Thursday in Baghdad of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an explosive; 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
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