Violence increasing in Baghdad

February will be the third straight month to see an increase in violence.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Violence is increasing in Iraq, raising questions about whether the security improvements credited to the increase in U.S. troops may be short-lived.

Car bombs in Baghdad on Monday killed at least 11 people and injured a prominent leader of one of the country’s most influential American-allied tribal militias.

The Ministry of Electricity announced that power to much of the nation, already anemic, is likely to lag in coming days because insurgents had blown up transmission facilities and natural gas pipelines that fuel generators.

CBS News confirmed that two of its journalists are missing in Basra, in Iraq’s south.

A leading parliament member warned that budget disputes have paralyzed the legislature.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, finishing a two-day visit to Baghdad, said he was likely to advocate a pause in troop withdrawals to evaluate the situation after the last of the additional troops sent here under President Bush’s so-called surge strategy had left later this year.

Gates made the remark after meeting for two hours with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Petraeus already has indicated that he wants to slow troop withdrawals to consolidate the past year’s security gains.

After months of declining violence, February is certain to be the third straight month to see increases in the numbers of Baghdad residents killed in car bombings and suicide attacks.

According to statistics kept by McClatchy, the low point in such killings came in November, when 76 people died. Thanks to a pair of pet market bombings that killed 99 people Feb. 1, February’s tally already is 131.

Monday, a suicide car bomber drove his car into the Baghdad residence of a prominent leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, a U.S.-allied militia that’s credited with helping to drive al-Qaida in Iraq from that province. Five minutes later, another car bomb exploded at a busy intersection a short distance away.

The blasts killed at least 11 people and injured 30.

Later, Sheik Ali Hathem al-Suleiman al-Duleimy, who was injured in the attack, went on Iraqi TV and declared war against his enemies. He said that his militia, many of whose members are paid by the United States, no longer would allow the U.S. or Iraqi government to interfere with its work.

His comments came as similar U.S.-allied groups in nearby Diyala province continued to refuse to work with American or Iraqi government forces until the provincial police chief is removed. On Monday, hundreds protested in Diyala to demand the chief’s removal.