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April 20, 2008

Rice Praises Political Progress in Iraq, Violence Increases in Sadr City 
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Rice is holding talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki among other top Iraqi officials before heading to diplomatic meetings in Bahrain and Kuwait 






U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has praised Iraq's Sunni Arab, Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders for working together in politics.  At the same time, the U.S. military says violence in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad has increased over the past days.

While on an unannounced visit to Baghdad Sunday, Rice said there has been a "coalescing of a center in Iraqi politics" with the three groups working together better than at any other time.

Rice is holding talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki among other top Iraqi officials before heading to diplomatic meetings in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reports an increase in fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City district, a stronghold of the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.  

U.S. spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Strover says U.S. troops killed 20 gunmen in what he called the "hottest night (most violent) in a couple of weeks." On Saturday, Moqtada al-Sadr threatened "open war" against the Iraqi government unless attacks against supporters cease.  

Iraqi troops on Saturday seized control of a stronghold of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the southern city of Basra. 

Iraq's Prime Minister al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on armed groups in Basra last month.

In othe violence Sunday, police said gunmen kidnapped at least four people, including two university students, on a highway north of Baquba in central Iraq.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.





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