45 killed in Baghdad despite crackdown (3 more US troops die Sun.[2 on Sat.])

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Source: AP



45 killed in Baghdad despite crackdown

By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - 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 Monday — a move that could leave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's already weak administration without enough support to stay in power......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070415/ts_nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=Ah_rakyu9LWMOCiagfoeJ8bMWM0F


Cleric Sadr's bloc to quit Iraq government

By Mussab Al-Khairalla and Paul Tait Sun Apr 15, 2:59 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would withdraw from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
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Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a news conference.

The move is unlikely to bring down the government, but it could create tensions in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite-led government of national unity at a time when it is trying to heal sectarian divisions that threaten to tip
Iraq into civil war.

"We are going to declare our withdrawal from government because the prime minister does not want to make a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq," said one official in Sadr's movement who declined to be identified......

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.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070415/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Al8uRejcsJUfR9XeqX_tt3qs0NUE