March 01, 2007	Thursday	Safar 11, 1428

BAGHDAD, Feb 28: Bomb and mortar attacks tormented war-weary Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 23 people, as Iraq set the date for a security conference that could see Washington sit down with Iran and Syria.

The deadliest blast ripped through “Street Number 20”, a bustling commercial area in a mainly Shia district in the southwest of the capital, killing at least 10 people, defence officials and state television said.

Police commandos sealed off the scene as casualties were ferried to two nearby hospitals, one of which said it had received 24 wounded.

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber charged a police station, killing two bystanders, and guerilla mortar teams bombarded. A tally of security force reports gave a total of 23 dead in and around the city.

These were only the latest attacks in the two weeks since US and Iraqi forces deployed thousands more troops in a large-scale plan to try to defeat the insurgency and quell fighting between Sunnis and Shias.

“There has been a couple of weeks of reduction in the levels of kidnappings and extra-judicial killings,” said US spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox.

“But there has also been an increase in the number of car bombs and improvised explosive devices,” he added, warning that it would be months not weeks before anyone can tell whether the plan is working.

Fox said that over the previous week Iraqi and US forces had seized a total of 167 suspects, and that since the plan had started had set up 15 fortified joint security stations around the capital.

Many Shiite militia leaders have gone to ground or been arrested in raids, and on Wednesday eight Al-Qaeda militants were killed in air strikes north of the capital and six arrested, the US military said.

But the roadside booby-traps, car bombs and suicide bombers continue to claim lives daily and have begun to erode public confidence that “Operation Fardh al-Qanoon” will make them safer.

On Wednesday, Iraq fixed a date of March 10 for the conference.

Maliki's office said neighbouring countries, permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference had been invited to send envoys.

Earlier, a key aide to Maliki, political adviser Sami al-Askari, said that Iraq would try to persuade Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia to pressure Iraqi armed groups with which they allegedly have links to lay down their arms.

The United States and Syria have confirmed that they will take part in the conference -- which US officials expect to be followed by a second higher-level meet in April -- and Iran has said it will likely accept the invitation.—AFP