Baghdad bombs kill at least 13, including kids

Call for leader to step down
A prominent Shiite politician among the two publicly calling for al-Jaafari to step aside continued to express his faltering support.

“In my belief, there is no way left (for al-Jaafari), considering that other parliamentary blocs are still closing doors ... and the constitutional choices in Dr. al-Jaafari’s hands do not enable him to win the legal quorum in order to receive a new mandate as prime minister,” Shiite legislator Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer told Lebanese television Tuesday.

President Bush urged Iraq to move quickly Tuesday to form a unity government, calling on elected leaders “to stand up and do their job.”

Bush said insurgents were using violence to prevent democracy from taking hold. “One way to help bring confidence to the Iraqi people that those few will not be able to determine the future of that country is for there to be unity government that steps up and says, ‘I’m willing to lead,”’ he said.

More civilian fatalities
Rising tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims have led to a marked increase in Iraqi civilian deaths. At least 1,038 civilians died last month in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count showed at least 375 Iraqi civilians killed in December, 608 in January and 741 in February. Most of the increase appeared to be a result of a sharp rise in the number of civilians found dead throughout Baghdad — the apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings.

U.S. casualties had appeared to be on the decline, with last month the least deadly for American troops since February 2004. But 14 troops have already died in the first three days of April — nearly half the number who died in all of March.

In addition to the five Marines killed in the vehicle accident, three Marines and a sailor were killed by “hostile fire” in the same province, the military said. No further details, including the precise location, were released.

Deadly day
Army Pfc. Jeremy W. Ehle of Richmond, Va., was killed when his patrol came under fire near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad. Ehle, who arrived in Iraq last month, was part of the Army’s 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division stationed in Friedberg, Germany.

That many American troops had not died in a single day since Jan. 7, when 18 troops were killed, according to the Web site icasualties.org.

As of Monday, 2,344 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an AP count.

Elsewhere, police said three Iraqi army officers were arrested in connection with an attack on an oil pipeline in Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, last week.

U.S. Air Force F-15s and U.S. Navy F/A-18s provided close air support to troops fighting Iraqi insurgents north of the capital in Tikrit, and Habaniyah and Fallujah west of Baghdad.

The Iraqi government also announced the arrest in Anbar province of five “terrorists,” including two Sudanese who entered through Jordan.

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