War in Iraq: Recent developments

Here are the latest development in Iraq:

President Jalal Talabani’s wife, Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, was headed to the city’s central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when her motorcade was hit by a bomb attack Sunday. She escaped unharmed, but four bodyguards were injured.

At least 10 people — including two children — were killed in 24 hours of fighting in Sadr City,

In fighting Sunday, U.S. troops killed 18 Shiite extremists in unrelenting street battles in the capital’s Shiite militia strongholds of Sadr City, Shula and New Baghdad.

U.S. troops killed nine al-Qaida insurgents, including three who were wearing suicide vests, in a clash Sunday near Lake Thar Thar in the predominantly Sunni Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad, the military said. Two other al-Qaida insurgents were killed in Samarra north of Baghdad on Saturday.

In addition, the U.S. military reported Sunday that 11 al-Qaida insurgents were killed over the weekend in central and northern Iraq, after a powerful roadside bomb killed four Marines on Friday in the deadliest attack in months in the former al-Qaida stronghold of western Anbar province.

A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no conclusive evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States. Talks took place last week in Tehran between an Iraqi delegation and Iranian authorities aimed at halting suspected Iranian aid to some Shiite militias.

Associated Press