Baghdad – Six bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite Muslim sections of the capital Sunday, killing at least 45 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage that set back the U.S. push to pacify Baghdad.
Beleaguered Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suffered another blow later in the day when two officials close to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his followers would quit their Cabinet posts today, raising a threat that the government could collapse.
North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent midair collision, killing two service members, U.K. officials said. Four others were injured, one seriously. U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne said initial reports suggested the crash was an accident.
One U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire Sunday while trying to reach an Iraqi police unit under attack near a mosque in southern Baghdad, the military said in a statement. One civilian was wounded in the incident.
Another soldier died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded during a foot patrol south of Baghdad, the military said. A Marine died the same day in combat in Anbar province.
And in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, health officials raised the toll from a bombing Saturday close to one of the sect’s most sacred shrines, saying 47 people were killed and 224 hurt.
Shortly after noon, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus in the mainly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of al- Utafiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding 11.
