KARBALA, March 19: Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flocked to Karbala on Sunday amid tight security to foil any sectarian attack, as an ex-prime minister said Iraq was already embroiled in civil war. US troops killed 13 people, including a boy and his parents, after their patrol was ambushed in the town of Duluiya, Iraqi police said.

Flying flags and flailing themselves, a sea of people filled roads to Karbala ahead of Arbain (Chehlum).

The proceedings, which climax on Monday evening, were calm aside from a mortar round that landed near a garage and caused no casualties. But the blast was a reminder of bombings that have caused carnage at previous rituals.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, writing for the Washington Post to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, said disengaging from Iraq now would be like ‘handing Germany back to the Nazis in 1945.’

Twelve bodies with gunshot wounds were discovered around the capital, police said, apparently the latest victims of sectarian violence that threatens to explode into all-out conflict.

Iran, which has strong ties to fellow Shias leading the interim government in Baghdad, has agreed to an Iraqi proposal to hold talks with the United States on stabilising Iraq.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani backed a call by an Iraqi Shia leader for talks with Iran, which Washington accuses of meddling in Iraq. “The problem of Iraq has become an international one,” he said.

Iraqi political sources said they expected the US ambassador to meet Iran’s representatives this week.

But Gen George Casey, US commander in Iraq, questioned Iran’s motives. “They’re playing… a very delicate balancing act. On the one hand, they want a stable neighbour. On the other hand, I don’t believe they want to see us succeed here,” he told Fox television.

In Tehran, an Iranian official said he expected the talks to focus on ‘the timetable for the departure of occupying forces.’

Secular former prime minister Iyad Allawi said Iraq was nearing the ‘point of no return’ to all-out civil war. He said such a conflict was already under way.—Reuters