Masked Shiite gunmen rampaged through a tense neighbourhood of west Baghdad on Sunday, dragging Sunnis from their cars, picking them out on the street and killing at least 41 in a dramatic escalation of sectarian violence. Hours later, two car bombs exploded near a Shiite mosque in north Baghdad, killing 17 people and wounding 38 in what appeared to be a reprisal attack, police said.Shiite gunmen blocked roads into Shiite neighbourhoods to guard against revenge attacks, residents said, as scattered clashes occurred elsewhere in the tense Iraqi capital. Sunni leaders expressed outrage over the killings, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, appealed for calm, warning that the nation stood “in front of a dangerous precipice”.
The trouble started about 10:00am when several carloads of gunmen drove into the Jihad area along the main road to Baghdad International Airport, police and witnesses said. The gunmen stopped cars, checked passengers' identification cards and shot dead those with Sunni names. Masked gunmen wearing black clothing roamed through the streets, abducting Sunnis whose bodies were found later scattered throughout the religiously mixed neighbourhood, an interior ministry official said. US and Iraqi forces sealed off the area, and residents said American troops using loudspeakers announced a two-day curfew. Black smoke from burning tyres wafted through the streets.