BAGHDAD, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Iraq's political leaders met Saturday night in a show of unity aimed at restoring calm following violent reaction to the bombing at a Shiite shrine.
Parts of the meeting at the home of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari were broadcast on television, the New York Times reported. Jaafari said after the meeting ended that the leaders agreed to hurry efforts to form a new government.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who attended the meeting, told reporters beforehand he believes the danger of civil war between Sunnis and Shiites is receding.
Saturday was a bloody day with at least 46 deaths.
More than 12 members of a Shiite family were killed in Baghdad, the latest in the retaliatory killings between Shiites and Sunnis following the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. A bombing in Karbala killed five people and injured 35.
In Baghdad, three people were injured when gunmen shot at the funeral of Atwar Bahjat, a well-known newswoman for Al-Arabia, who was killed in Samarra with her crew after the Golden Mosque bombing.
