At least five attacks rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday killing at least 41 people and injuring many more. This is the latest example of a surge of sectarian violence that has taken place in Iraq since the gold dome of the Askariya shrine, a site holy to Shi'ites, was damaged last Wednesday.
According to Iraqi government sources, at least 379 people have been killed and 458 more have been wounded since the shrine was damaged six days ago.
The latest surge of violence included at least three car bombings in the Iraqi capital. One of the attacks was detonated by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt at a crowded gas station.
In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, a monument to the former dictator's father was damaged when a Sunni mosque was attacked by an explosion.
Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians continue to negotiate unsuccessfully in their attempts to form a new government.
Other leaders are meeting in attempts to find ways to stem the violence. National security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie traveled to the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Tuesday to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite religious leader in the country.
President Bush placed the blame for the violence on the insurgency. Speaking at the White House in a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, Bush told reporters,
'Obviously there are some who are trying to sow the seeds of sectarian violence. They destroy in order to create chaos. And now, the people of Iraq and their leaders must make a choice. The choice is chaos or unity, the choice is a free society, or a society dictated by evil people who would kill innocents.'
Another American soldier was reported killed in Baghdad on Monday by smalls arms fire. This brings the total number of American soldiers killed in the war in Iraq to 2,292 according to the Associated Press.
Two British soldiers were killed in Amarah. Eyewitnesses say that a car bomb targeted a British patrol in this town 180 miles from Baghdad. The British have now lost 103 troops since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq in March 2003.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters Monday that he thought the worst of the violence was over.
'I think the country came to the brink of a civil war, but the Iraqis decided that they didn't want to go down that path and came together,' Khalilzad told CNN on Monday. 'Clearly the terrorists who plotted that attack wanted to provoke a civil war. It looked quite dangerous in the initial 48 hours, but I believe that the Iraqis decided to come together.'
On Tuesday, however, the violence started anew. Iraqis find themselves on the brink of civil war. Increasing violence may create significant delays in the Bush administration's plans to begin troop withdrawals from Iraq in 2006.
