Sunni terrorists, blamed to belong to al Qaeda, set off 6 car bombs in predominantly Shia neighborhood in eastern Baghdad killing 58 people and wounding 200. Coinciding with a political meeting sponsored by the US Ambassador, these bombing incidents raised fears of reprisals of Shiites that can essentially trigger a civil war. The neighborhood was the stronghold of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who owns a militia that could easily trigger a sectarian clash. Al-Sadr blamed predominantly Whhabbi Sunni al Qaeda for the attack but said the will not order reprisals as that could lead to civil war. He said he blamed the occupational forces for the death and violence in the country.

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