Car Bombs in Iraq Kill 11 as US Defense Secretary Ends Visit
By VOA News
11 February 2008
Two car bombs have killed at least 11 people in Baghdad as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was completing a two-day visit to Iraq.
Police say the bombs exploded almost simultaneously on a square in the southern neighborhood of Jadriyah.
The Associated Press quotes the chief Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad, Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, as saying the apparent target of the attacks was a building in which Sunni chieftains, who have joined forces against al-Qaida in Iraq, were meeting.
The attacks came as Gates was concluding a trip to Iraq, during which he cautioned that the security situation remains "fragile."
Gates also endorsed the opinion of his top commander, General David Petraeus, saying there may need to be a "pause" in U.S. troop reductions once initial pullouts are completed in July.
Gates had previously said he hoped the withdrawal of about 3,500 U.S. troops a month could continue after the last of the "troop surge" brigades leaves.
Most of the new forces President Bush ordered to Iraq last year will leave by July. U.S. officials must decide what to do after that.
Gates says General Petraeus's recommendation will be presented to the president next month, along with assessments by other senior officers and Gates himself. General Petraeus is to report to Congress in early April.
On Sunday, some 50 people were killed in violence across Iraq. In one of the deadliest incidents in weeks, a suicide car bomber killed at least 25 people at a checkpoint near the central Iraq town of Balad.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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