New attacks in tense Iraqi town of Balad kill 9

BALAD, Iraq, Oct 20: Nine people were killed by mortars in the Shi'ite city of Balad and militias attacked two Sunni villages nearby, police said today, in a new round of sectarian attacks in an area where dozens were killed this week.

Police said at least 15 mortars hit Balad yesterday and shortly afterwards gunmen wearing the black outfits associated with local Shi'ite militias attacked two Sunni villages. They had no information on casualties in those attacks.

Iraq is gripped by sectarian bloodshed between Muslim Shi'ites and Sunnis, and the spiral of violence in Balad, 80 km north of Baghdad, is an example of the huge challenges Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is facing in containing the threat of civil war.

Police said the black-clad gunmen took over an Iraqi army checkpoint between Balad and Dhuluiya, a mostly Sunni town involved in the reprisal killings over the past week, and tensions remained high in Balad today.

US forces, who maintain a large base near Balad after recently handing over control of the city to Iraqi forces, sent some troops back into Balad at the height of the attacks this week. The tit-for-tat killings started with the slaying of 14 Shi'ite labourers whose bodies were found with their throats cut in an orchard in Dhuluiya.

Reuters