Bomber strikes Shiite-Sunni meeting, kills 15 including police chief

[babylonsister]

Bomber strikes Shiite-Sunni meeting

Suicide Bomber Strikes Shiite and Sunni Reconciliation Meeting in Baqouba, Killing 15

YAHYA BARZANJI
AP News

Sep 24, 2007 14:31 EDT

A suicide bomber struck a reconciliation meeting of Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders and senior provincial officials in Baqouba on Monday, killing at least 15 people, including the city's police chief, security officials said.

A witness said most of the people killed or wounded were in the mosque yard washing their hands or drinking tea after taking a break from the meeting for the iftar banquet, the daily meal to break the sunrise-to-sunset fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The bombing, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, was a challenge to the U.S. strategy of turning members of both Islamic sects against extremists in a bid to duplicate the success in Anbar province to the west of the capital.

The U.S. military has claimed recent success in quelling violence in Baqouba by sending thousands of additional American and Iraqi troops to the area, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The meeting of tribal leaders and clerics from both Islamic sects was aimed at reducing sectarian tension and discussing ways to support security forces against insurgents.

more...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/09/bomber_strikes_shiitesunni_mee.php

[whistle]

1. Is it a civil war or not?

[BOSSHOG]

2. give bush six more months and he'll have this all straightened out

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "Progress is being made." Or, was that "Mission Accomplished"?

[xchrom]

4. so because this has the ''earmarks'' of al qaida -- then what this REALLY means

is that things are getting better.

that's what petraeus says.
:eyes:

[acmavm]

5. How about that 'surge', eh?

How's that working out?

I have to ask because I keep hearing from bush** and traitorous generals that it's going just fine and I'm just too damn stupid to see how.

[Pawel K]

6. Those people are fucked up

we knew this would happen before we went in there, we are just as responsible for this shit as those insurgents (or whatever the hell you want to call them) are.