CIVIL WAR ESCALATES...

The Los Angeles Times Solomon Moore November 25, 2006 08:55 AM

Iraq's civil war worsened Friday as Shiite and Sunni Arabs engaged in retaliatory attacks after coordinated car bombings that killed more than 200 people in a Shiite neighborhood the day before. A main Shiite political faction threatened to quit the government, a move that probably would cause its collapse and plunge the nation deeper into disarray.

The massacre Thursday in Sadr City -- a stronghold of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Al Mahdi militia -- sparked attacks around the country, reinforced doubts about the effectiveness of the Iraqi government and U.S. military and emboldened Shiite vigilantes.

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