Which did you hear? I bet it was the bombing that killed 132:
Stunned Iraqis loaded coffins onto minivans and picked through the rubble of buildings Sunday after a suicide truck bomber obliterated a Baghdad market in a mainly Shiite area, killing at least 132 people in the deadliest single strike by a suicide bomber since the war started.Since we telegraphed our new offensive to the enemy, they are stepping up their efforts and preparing to counter our plans:
The explosion Saturday was fifth major bombing in less than a month targeting predominantly Shiite districts in Baghdad and the southern Shiite city of Hillah. It also was the worst in the capital since a series of car bombs and mortars killed at least 215 people in the Shiite district of Sadr City on Nov. 23.
Suspicion fell on Sunni insurgents — al-Qaida in Iraq and allied groups in particular. The militant bombers are believed to have stepped up their campaign against Shiites in the final days before the joint U.S.-Iraqi crackdown in Baghdad. Many saw the operation as a last-chance effort to clamp off violence that has turned the capital into a sectarian battleground.And we lost 5 more soldiers. We are taking the fight to the enemy and they are going to respond. We will lose many more men before the end of this. And it's unfortunate that the enemy has taken the fight to the people of Iraq. This is only a taste of what it will be like if we pull the troops out and let the Sunnis and Shiites fight this battle. They will use the marketplace as their battlefield and many more Iraq citizens will be killed.
Iraqis elsewhere in Baghdad faced another round of bombings and shootings on Sunday, with at least 13 people killed, including two cell phone company employees in a drive-by shooting and four policemen who were struck by a roadside bomb.
[...]
Suspected Sunni attackers have appeared emboldened in recent weeks after radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, under pressure from fellow Shiites who dominate the government, ordered the thousands of gunmen in his Mahdi Army militia to avoid American attacks in the coming assault.
[...]
Meanwhile, an Iraqi militant group tied to al-Qaida in Iraq announced Saturday it had launched its own new strategy to counter the coming U.S.-Iraqi crackdown.
In an audiotape posted on a Web site commonly used by the insurgents, a voice purported to be that of Abu Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said the group would "widen the circle of battles" beyond Baghdad to all of Iraq. Al-Baghdadi heads The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of insurgent groups in Iraq.
But buried in this story is some good news:
Iraqi soldiers also detained 32 militants and discovered four weapons caches in western Baghdad, seizing 1,128 mortar rounds, five rocket-propelled grenades, a rocket launcher, 50 anti-aircraft shells and other ammunition, according to the Defense Ministry.They also had the following successes:
Air strike targets senior al Qaida leaders near Arab
Coalition Forces targeted the leadership of an al-Qaida in Iraq related vehicle-borne improvised explosives devices network Friday during an airstrike operation near Arab Jabour.Weapons cache discovered in mosque near Tarmiyah
Coalition Forces, with the help of a local Imam and the Iraqi Army, detained two suspected terrorists and uncovered a weapons cache Thursday inside a mosque near Tarmiyah.IA captures death squad leader operating in southern Baghdad
Special Iraqi Army Forces successfully removed another violent and deadly criminal from the streets of Iraq after capturing a suspected death squad leader Feb. 1 during operations with Coalition advisers in southern Baghdad.Tags:
The death squad leader is allegedly responsible for carrying out kidnapping and murders against innocent Iraqi civilians in the Hai al Aamel, Al Bayaa and Al Sayidiyah neighborhoods.
