Thanksgiving

In a series of suicide bombings and shellings that appeared calculated to ignite a firestorm of reprisals, at least 161 people were killed and 257 wounded Thursday in the single deadliest attack on a sectarian enclave in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The explosions in Sadr City came after a highly coordinated militant assault on the Shiite-controlled Health Ministry complex and were followed almost immediately by attacks in Sunni Arab neighborhoods that killed at least 10 others. Separate bombings, shootings and apparent sectarian executions across Iraq killed at least 62 more, leaving a total of at least 233 dead in one of the war's bloodiest days.


(from Tribune news service)