A car bombing that killed 63 June 17 at a bus-stop in Baghdad’s predominantly Shi’ite Hurriya area may have been carried out by a militant trying to incite Shi’ite violence against Sunnis, the US military said. Lt. Col. Steve Stover said, “Our intelligence, corroborated through multiple sources, is this atrocity was committed” by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, leader of an Iranian-backed militant cell. “We believe he ordered the attack to incite Shia violence against Sunnis,” he said, adding that al-Fawadi is a “murderous thug.” (CNN, June 18)
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