BRIDGES HIT: Twin suicide bombers struck police checkpoints at bridges in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 23 people. The driver of a sedan waiting in a line of cars at a checkpoint near the old Diyala Bridge blew up his vehicle, partly collapsing the span, police said. About two minutes later the driver of a fuel truck barreled toward a second checkpoint at the nearby new Diyala Bridge and set off his explosives, police said.
SADR IN IRAN: The U.S. knows for certain that popular Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr is living in Iran, according to David Satterfield, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s top adviser on Iraq. “He’s in Iran, which is where he has been since mid-January,” Satterfield said, disputing aides to the anti-American religious and political leader.
PLEASE STAY: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Friday that he believes U.S. and British troops will need to stay in Iraq as long as two more years to help stem the bloodshed. Speaking at the University of Cambridge, Talabani said, “I think within one or two years, we will be able to recruit our forces and prepare our armed forces and tell goodbye to our friends.”
