7 Killed as Full-Scale Sectarian Fighting Rages in Baghdad

August 18, 2006

A car bombing in the Sadr City district of Baghdad killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20 on Thursday morning, the authorities said.

The blast was the latest of several recent attacks in the district, a densely populated area controlled by the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr. It signaled that full-scale sectarian fighting was continuing in the capital despite the extra American troops deployed there.

Also on Thursday, the Iraqi government introduced a $39 billion draft budget for 2007 that a spokesman said would require significant borrowing unless daily oil production more than doubled.

Few details of the draft were available. Ali al-Dabagh, the government spokesman, said in an interview that it was being scrutinized by the cabinet and that most of the proposed $39 billion would pay for employees’ salaries and pensions.

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