will largely go unpunished, I am sure something similar (yet far worse) is awaiting them when they meet God. Its okay to fight against an invading army, but its not okay to kill your own countrymen (who didn’t join the invading army). Loss of lives continues around the world, everyone having their own agenda, some using religion on front while some using anti-terrorism.
**Attacks across Iraq kill at least 47 **
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 50 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arab representatives said Tuesday they will end their boycott of Iraq](http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Iraq)'s parliament following a call for reconciliation by a radical Shiite cleric and promises that a kidnapped colleague will be released.
The easing of tensions in the government came on a day of violence. Bombings and shootings killed at least 47 people nationwide.
Gunmen seized an Iraqi diplomat on leave from his post in Iran](http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Iran) as he was driving near his Baghdad home. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said Wissam Jabr al-Awadi was a consul in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, a city with a large Kurdish population near the border with Iraq.
The Iraqi Accordance Front suspended its participation in parliament meetings earlier this month after one of its members, Tayseer al-Mashhadani, was kidnapped in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad. Many Sunnis blamed anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, although the organization has denied any involvement.
Al-Sadr has called for unity. A leading Sunni politician said the bloc was responding, in the first sign of accommodation by both sides amid a sharp rise in sectarian tensions.
“We have decided to attend the meetings as of tomorrow in response to the call by Muqtada al-Sadr,” lawmaker Adnan al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. Two of al-Mashhadani’s guards were released last week.
Noureddine al-Hyali, another member of the bloc that holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament, said that contacts had been made with the kidnappers and “we have received promises … that Tayseer al-Mashhadani will be released within days.” He quoted the kidnappers as saying “she is our guest,” indicating that she was being treated well.
Earlier this month, Sunni politician Ayad al-Samaraie said a group claiming to be holding al-Mashhadani demanded the release of 25 Shiites detained by U.S. forces in return for her freedom. The group also purportedly called for a timetable for withdrawing coalition troops, the release of all detainees, and a halt to attacks on Shiite mosques.
Al-Sadr aide Awas al-Khafaji denied that the Mahdi Army was behind the violence and accused the U.S. of trying to stoke sectarian tensions.
"What is happening in Iraq is a U.S. plot to target the patriotic elements in
Iraq and this is shown through the attempts to create a gap between al-Mahdi Army and the Sunnis," he said in the holy city of Najaf.
A series of brazen attacks struck the Baghdad area and northern Iraq, killing at least 47 people and wounding 65.
A parked car bomb followed by a suicide attacker on foot struck a restaurant frequented by police near the heavily guarded Green Zone, killing at least five people and wounding 10, Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said, although there were conflicting accounts.
The U.S. military said three bombs exploded, including two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests, followed by another bomb. It said 15 local civilians and an Iraqi policeman were killed and four Iraqis were wounded. Iraqi soldiers and coalition forces responded to the scene, according to a statement.
The blast occurred about 200 yards from the entrance to the Green Zone, the fortified area that houses the U.S. and British embassies and Iraqi government offices.
AP Television News video showed U.S. and Iraqi forces at the site of the blast, with rubble piled outside the restaurant. Three Iraqis carried a body in a blanket.
A female Shiite lawmaker from al-Sadr’s bloc, Gufran al-Saadi, said the explosions occurred as her convoy was entering the Green Zone. “I suspect that some groups are targeting me,” she said. “I have received threats from groups that I cannot name now.”
The ministers of interior and defense were called to parliament in order to explain why the government’s security plan has failed to curb violence in Baghdad.
The security situation has not improved since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unveiled a major security plan in Baghdad last month.
Gunmen in the capital intercepted a minivan with Shiite passengers planning to carry a coffin to Najaf. All 10 people on board were killed in the attack in the volatile southern neighborhood of Dora, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.
A bomb planted under a fuel tanker exploded between a market and a medical center in the southeastern Baghdad suburb of Nahrawan, killing two people and wounding 18, Lt. Bilal Ali said. It set off a fire that was extinguished, Ali said.
A bomb in a parked car also exploded in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, killing two people and wounding six, he said.
Gunmen in three cars attacked a Saudi Arabian import/export company in the upscale Mansour neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing five Iraqi employees before fleeing, Capt. Jamil Hussein said.
Northeast of Baghdad, gunmen in a speeding car fired randomly at textile shops in Baqouba, killing two shop owners and wounding four others, police said.
Clashes between Iraqi forces and insurgents broke out near the northwestern city of Mosul. Brig. Khalaf al-Jubour said 10 policemen who were part of an oil-protection force were killed in the fighting near Sharqat, 45 miles south of Mosul.
Police also said gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army convoy near Sharqat on Monday evening, killing nine soldiers and wounding three.
A parked car bomb later exploded in a busy bus and taxi depot in the city, killing at least two people and wounding six, police said.
Gunmen killed an engineer with Iraq’s North Oil Co. and his driver in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Gunmen ambushed a minivan in Taji, 12 miles north of the capital, killing one passenger and wounding five, Lt. Mohammad Khayoun said.
Gunmen broke into a bakery in Baghdad, killing two workers.
A bomb in a parked car struck a house being used by Iraqi police in southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Sadiyah, killing three policemen and wounding seven others. A mortar round hit a house elsewhere in the neighborhood, wounding one civilian.
A bomb exploded near the private clinic belonging to the wife of the governor of the dangerous Salahuddin province in Tikrit. Dr. Amira Qassim al-Rubaie later died of her wounds and two of her aides were seriously wounded.
A bomb in a parked car targeting a police patrol exploded in front of a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, wounding three policemen and three civilians.
In London, Britain’s defense secretary told the House of Commons that British, Australian and Japanese troops will hand over control of Iraq’s southern Muthana province to Iraqi forces Thursday.
Britain and Iraq announced plans last month for Iraqi troops to take responsibility for security in Muthana, the first in what the U.S.-led coalition hopes will be a series of handovers that eventually will allow foreign troops to leave Iraq.