Fierce fighting between Iraqi police and Sunni gunmen erupted in Baqouba for a second day on Sunday, while the government partially lifted a 24-hour curfew it had imposed in Baghdad. The curfew was imposed after Thursday's blasts killed 215 people in the main Shiite district of Sadr City.
At least 11 gunmen were killed in Baqouba, according to a police official. During Saturday's fighting police killed at least 36 armed men and wounded dozens, police said.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint on a highway near a Sunni mosque in Mahmoudiya city Sunday morning, killing five policemen and injuring 23, said police Capt. Muthanna Khalid Ali.
In Anbar province, two U.S. Marines died Saturday, the military said. 56 American service members have been killed so far in November.
On Saturday, a prominent Sunni religious leader warned that Iraq's escalating sectarian violence will spread throughout the Middle East unless the international community withdraws support for the current Iraqi government led by Nouri al-Maliki. "I call on the Arab states, the Arab League and the United Nations to stop this government and withdraw its support from it. Otherwise, the disaster will occur and the turmoil will happen in Iraq and other countries," said Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars.
Last week, Iraq's Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant against al-Dhari, saying he was wanted for inciting violence and terrorism.
